September 15, 2010, 12:13 pm
By Suzanne Perry
Nonprofit groups should join hands with an unusual ally—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—to fight a “burdensome and costly” provision in the new health-care law, argues lawyer Jack Siegel in his Charity Governance blog. The provision has nothing to do with health care but was inserted as a way to raise money to pay for the new law.
It would require employers, including charities, to file Internal Revenue Service 1099 tax forms to report all purchases from any vendor that sold them at least $600 in goods during the year. It is designed to ensure that those vendors are reporting all of their taxable income.
“It’s not the filing that is so problematic,” writes Mr. Siegel. “The significant costs will be associated with collecting information.”
The Chamber of Commerce is trying to get the measure repealed.
While that organization “may disgust many nonprofit leaders, health care reform has created…
Read More
August 25, 2010, 11:05 am
By Suzanne Perry
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, at left, had some unflattering things to say about nonprofit workers during a recent broadcast—and Robert Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen, has posted an amusing retort on YouTube.
While excoriating Democrats and the left for allegedly trying to kill the “private sector,” Mr. Limbaugh refers to “lazy idiots” and then segues into an evaluation of the nonprofit world:
“Nonprofits siphon contributions as their salaries and so forth and think of themselves as good people, charitable people. These people are rapists in terms of finance and the economy.”
Mr. Egger’s video—which as of Wednesday morning had been viewed more than 40,000 times—takes Mr. Limbaugh on a mini-tour of the nonprofit world, wondering if the radio host was referring to the “lazy idiots” who organized the World War II memorial, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial…
Read More
January 15, 2010, 6:17 pm
By Suzanne Perry
Harris Wofford, the longtime national-service advocate and former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, was a co-sponsor of the 1994 law that designated Martin Luther King’s Birthday a day of service.
On the Case Foundation’s blog, Mr. Wofford recalls the philosophy behind the move: “What would Martin have wanted it to be? Anyone who knew him or marched with him or read or heard his words knows that he would not have wanted it to be a day for rest, recreation, shopping, or just doing nothing.”
He notes that participation in the day of service, which this year will take place on Monday, has grown each year, with backing from Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Obama.
But he urges people to remember “the full-bodied” Martin Luther King Jr. — “the King not only of constructive service, but the King of political action and social invention that focused on the campaigns for the civil-rights acts…
Read More
October 12, 2009, 1:02 pm
By Suzanne Perry
Readers of the New York Times political blog The Caucus are offering suggestions about which groups should get the $1.4-million that President Obama will win along with his Nobel Prize.
On Friday, Josh Gerstein, a writer for the political Web site Politico, said Mr. Obama could face ethical and tax questions that could muck up his charitable ambitions.
The president has said he will donate the money to charity. Where do you think it should go?
September 11, 2009, 11:47 am
By Suzanne Perry
David Paine, co-founder of MyGoodDeed, a charity that promotes volunteerism on September 11, says he is amazed at some misconceptions that are floating around about the decision to designate the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Writing on the Huffington Post, he says the trouble began when The American Spectator published an article in August saying President Obama was “behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort” to turn September 11 into “a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.”
The charge was picked up by some blogs and by Laura Ingraham on Fox News. Then the MyGoodDeed Web site, which asks people to post their good deeds for the day, started getting angry comments like, “How dare you try to [co-opt] 9/11 from National Day of Mourning to cheesy Obamabot service day.”
Mr. Paine says he called the magazine…
Read More
September 10, 2009, 5:59 pm
By Suzanne Perry
Many charities, corporations, and individuals are planning volunteer activities to commemorate September 11, the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The day has special significance this year as the first official National Day of Service and Remembrance, so proclaimed on Thursday by President Obama.
How are you planning to commemorate September 11 this year? Please let us know by posting a comment below, or post photos to The Chronicle‘s Flickr group.
August 27, 2009, 2:10 pm
By Suzanne Perry
Enough with all the new efforts to encourage people to volunteer, says Jayne Cravens, a nonprofit consultant and author of a volunteering guide. Noting that Mozilla, the software project, has organized a Mozilla Service Week in September, she writes on Jayne Blog:
“Like other please-go-out-and-volunteer events, all the publicity will probably lead to there being far more volunteers that want to help than assignments for them to do, leading once again to many disappointed, disillusioned potential volunteers—something we don’t need.” Instead, she says, how about some “let’s-help-nonprofits-have-the-resources-needed-to-involve-more-volunteers events”?
Ms. Cravens says she’d also like a moratorium on new volunteering-match Web sites, referring to a previous post where she wrote: “Organizations that involve volunteers do not have the resources to use all, or even most, of these volunteer …
Read More
August 26, 2009, 6:09 pm
By Suzanne Perry
People throughout the nonprofit world are paying tribute to Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday night. Among them:
- Steven Waldman, editor of the religious Web site Beliefnet, highlights Senator Kennedy’s role in getting a bill passed to create AmeriCorps in 1993. Mr. Waldman wrote a book about that fight, The Bill. “I got to watch up close Kennedy’s extraordinary skill as a legislator,” he writes on The Huffington Post. “Far from being an ideologue, Kennedy was invariably the guy going for the deal.”
- Michael Brown, chief executive of City Year, an AmeriCorps program in Boston, recalls Senator Kennedy’s support for City Year and national service.
- ServiceNation, a coalition that promotes national service and volunteerism, pays tribute to Senator Kennedy on its blog. The senator was a key mover behind a bill that became law last spring to expand the country’s…
Read More
March 25, 2009, 8:53 am
By Suzanne Perry
Followers of The Chronicle‘s Twitter feed are weighing in on President Obama’s comments last night defending his proposal to limit tax breaks for charitable deductions as a way to raise money for a plan to revamp the health-care system.
President Obama told a televised news conference that the proposal, which would apply to married couples making more than $250,000 (individuals $200,000) starting in 2011, would not have much effect on giving and would bring more fairness to the tax code.
Some of the Tweets:
“I think Obama’s right. Donors give because it feels good, not because of taxes. Tax breaks don’t hurt, but it’s not the be-all.”
“In this economy any excuse not to give is bad! He may be right about fairness but it will hurt!”
“‘The most important thing I can do for charitable giving is to fix the economy.’ Amen.”
“Won’t make big difference to strategic givers with their…
Read More
February 6, 2009, 12:04 pm
By Suzanne Perry
As Americans get increasingly fed up with news about Wall Street bonuses and perks, and botched political appointments like that of the Washington insider Tom Daschle, nonprofit leaders should be wary of appearing greedy, writes Robert Egger in his blog One Voice for Change.
“The party is over,” he writes. “Regular folks have been getting hosed down like cows in the paddock and they are righteously yanked.”
Mr. Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen, says he disagreed when one of his colleagues recently proposed trying to get money from the economic-stimulus bill.
“Folks—this kind of thing, which is the D.C. game in spades, will kill us,” he writes. “All over this town, nonprofits are lining up, trying to bum rush the White House or the Hill to get their cause, committee, or chair to the front of the line.”
With public trust in nonprofit groups declining, pundits and…
Read More