October 2008
October 29, 2008
Advice for the Next President
With the Presidential election less than one week away, the Chronicle wants to know what nonprofit leaders think the next occupant of the White House should make his top priority.
If you had a chance to share your thoughts on what the new president should do for the nonprofit world, what would you say?
Click on the comments link below this post to share your advice for the next President.
And to see where Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama stand on key issues for the nonprofit world, check out Campaign 2008, our special report on the election. You also see what your colleagues rated as important in a new study by the Johns Hopkins University.
— Peter Panepento
Oregon Charities Fight Ballot Measure
Charities in Oregon have a joined a campaign to block approval of a state ballot measure that voters will decide on November 4.
The proposal, Measure 64, would ban the collection of money using state resources, including government employee-giving campaigns, for broad political purposes
The Oregon Humane Society, Oregon Food Bank, and others oppose the measure, saying it would jeopardize programs that allow state employees to give directly to nonprofit groups via payroll deductions.
They have joined a coalition to fight the measure.
Such a proposal has been proposed — and defeated — in previous election years, according to an editorial by The Oregonian, whose editorial staff writers oppose the measure as well.
Read an opinion article in The Chronicle about similar state measures that were proposed in 2004.
(A short-term pass or subscription is required to read The Chronicle article.)
October 22, 2008
National-Service Chief Says He Plans to Step Down
David Eisner, chief executive of the Corporation for National and Community Service since 2003, said he plans to step down in mid November. Mr. Eisner, who was appointed to the post by President Bush, told his board and staff members that he plans to leave after the November 4 presidential election.
The corporation is the government agency that operates AmeriCorps, Vista, Senior Corps, and other federal national-service and volunteering programs. In a letter to colleagues, Mr. Eisner said Nicky Goren, his chief of staff, will serve as acting head of the agency until the next president appoints his successor.
Mr. Eisner said in the letter that the agency will celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2009 as the momentum around national service is growing.
He cited recent events, including the pledges by presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama to support service and volunteering; the introduction of the bipartisan Serve America Act, which would expand the country’s national-service programs; and the ServiceNation Summit, a high-profile conference on service in New York last month that was organized by a coalition of more than 100 groups.
Before joining the corporation, Mr. Eisner was a vice president at AOL Time Warner, where he headed the company’s charitable foundation.
October 15, 2008
Foundation Association Hires First Public-Policy Director
The Philanthropy Roundtable, a Washington association of grant makers and philanthropists, is strengthening its ability to lobby Capitol Hill, in part to fight potential new federal rules on foundations.
Last month, the organization hired Sue Santa, a former corporate lawyer and aide to a Democratic senator, to fill the new position of senior vice president for public policy.
In a statement, the roundtable said Ms. Santa would seek “to protect philanthropic freedom from threats posed in Washington, D.C., and across the country.”
The roundtable did not name the threats, but the association has opposed, among other proposals, a push by state legislators and others to persuade foundations to disclose information on the diversity of their grant recipients. employees, and boards.
Ms. Santa previously oversaw public and legal affairs for the International Speedway Corporation, which promotes and oversees motor-sports events. Before that she worked as an associate in the law offices of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, and as a staff member for Senator Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat from New Mexico.
This is not the Philanthropy Roundtable’s first step into legislative advocacy. In 2005, it established the Alliance for Charitable Reform to respond to scrutiny of grant makers by Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley.
Adam Meyerson, the association’s president, said the hiring of Ms. Santa “represents a more permanent commitment to the subject” of public policy.
October 14, 2008
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Expected to Continue Donating to Charity
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giants that were recently taken over by the government, are expected to continue donating to charity, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has assured nonprofit groups in the Washington metropolitan area.
The agency — which has been charged with restoring Fannie and Freddie to financial health—said in a letter it is close to finishing a review of the two companies’ charitable activities “to ensure that such activities serve their mission and are appropriate to their conservatorship status.”
The letter, sent earlier this month by James B. Lockhart III, the agency’s director, added: “It is envisioned that the enterprises will continue to make charitable contributions.” It did not specify whether those contributions would match current levels.
Mr. Lockhart was responding to a letter from the Center for Nonprofit Advancement and several other Washington nonprofit, grant-making, and government associations. The letter said that the mortgage companies, which contribute to almost 400 local nonprofit groups, are the region’s top two donors.
“If these investments were suddenly halted, the ripple effects will move swiftly beyond the scores of unmet needs to impact local government and communities,” it said.
Copies of the letters are available on the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s Web site.
Company Offers Donation Linked to Election Contest
A public-relations company is promoting an online contest to predict the next president by offering to award $1,000 to the winner’s favorite charity.
Peritus Public Relations, in Louisville, Ky., says it will make the donation to the person who correctly predicts the recipient of the nationwide popular vote and in individual states. He or she will also receive a $225 crystal bowl.
Another Kentucky company offered a charitable contribution as a way to get people involved in the election.
The KFC Corporation promised to donate $20,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme if a participant at the October 7 town hall-style debate between the presidential candidates mentioned global hunger issues.
No one did. Now the company says it will donate the money anyway.
October 07, 2008
Foundation Creates Web Site to Educate Voters on Issues
To educate voters and lawmakers during the election season, the Carnegie Corporation of New York has created an Internet clearinghouse for research on the most pressing issues facing America today, including the economy, health care, national security, and foreign policy.
The nonpartisan effort — Advice for the President — does not recommend ideas or say how the presidential candidates stand on a specific issue, but leads visitors to policy information provided by think tanks, universities, and newspapers of different political persuasions.
“How can the role of ideas continue to play an important role in our civic life?” asks Vartan Gregorian, Carnegie’s president, on the Web site. “This site is one attempt to respond to that question. We offer it as a public service and as a celebration of those who work in the spirit of our forefathers to ensure our nation is renewed, energetic, and committed to finding solutions to the problems that face our nation and the world.”
For more on how the presidential candidates stand on issues important to the nonprofit world, please check out the Chronicle‘s Campaign 2008 special report.
October 06, 2008
Company Offers Donation Linked to Debate
To raise concerns about global hunger, a restaurant chain is trying to influence the presidential debate tomorrow night at Belmont University, in Nashville.
The KFC Corporation, in Louisville, Ky., makers of Kentucky fried chicken, says it will donate $20,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme if a participant at the town hall-style meeting “mentions” hunger issues.
“To spur a serious conversation on world hunger, KFC is offering to donate $20,000 to world hunger-relief efforts if anyone mentions the pressing issue during Tuesday’s nationally televised presidential debate,” the company says in a press statement.
To spur interest in local residents who may be invited to the debate, the company has produced a 30-second television ad for the “donation challenge.” It began appearing on local Tennessee television stations today.
— Ian WilhelmOctober 03, 2008
Foreign Aid Pledge Under Scrutiny
Due to the bailout of financial institutions, Sen. Barack Obama may not be able to increase foreign aid from $25-billion to $50-billion by 2012 if he is elected president, said Mr. Obama’s running mate Sen. Joe Biden during last night’s vice-presidential debate.
“The one thing we might have to slow down is a commitment we made to double foreign assistance. We’ll probably have to slow that down,” Mr. Biden said.
The decision will probably concern antipoverty groups that have sought for overseas aid to be on both presidential candidates’ agendas.
During the debate last night, Republican John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, would not identify what policy proposals would be jeopardized by the current financial problems.
Mr. McCain has pledged to support foreign aid, but he has not promised to double it, as Mr. Obama has.
October 02, 2008
Senate Pass Charity Tax Provisions Along With Wall Street Bailout
The U.S. Senate attached a package of tax benefits to legislation to rescue the troubled financial sector, increasing the odds that the expired charity tax incentives could be renewed this year.
The package added to the bailout bill would extend for two years a measure allowing donors age 70 1/2 or older to transfer up to $100,000 to charity from their individual retirement accounts each year without paying income taxes on the money.
The Senate-passed legislation would renew the provision retroactive to January 1, 2008, and extend it to the end of 2009.
Additional provisions in the Senate legislation would renew and extend other breaks related to charitable giving, including special deductions that businesses may take for gifts of food and donations of books and computers to schools.
The legislation also creates tax incentives for charitable giving to help victims of summer storms, tornadoes, and floods in the Midwest.
People who use their cars and other vehicles to provide disaster relief in the Midwest would be able to deduct 41 cents per mile — 70 percent of the current business mileage rate — through the end of 2008. The rates now are 14 cents per mile for charitable activities and 58.5 cents for business activities.
Volunteers in the Midwest could also exclude from their income any reimbursements from charities for the use of their vehicles, up to the amount of the standard business rate, through the end of 2008.
Earlier this week, the tax-breaks legislation appeared to be in limbo, as the Senate and the House of Representatives had passed similar but not identical versions of bills to renew the benefits. The two chambers had differed chiefly over how the benefits would be paid for.
The addition of the tax benefits is expected to make the rescue bill more appealing to House Republicans, two-thirds of whom voted against the bailout on Monday. But the move could alienate conservative, “Blue Dog” Democrats in the House who voted for the original bill. The “Blue Dogs” oppose extending the tax credits unless they are paid for with spending cuts or tax increases.
The House recessed on Monday for the Jewish New Year, but returned today to take up a bailout bill.
— Kelly Field and Grant Williams
October 01, 2008
IRS Releases Details on College Probe
The Internal Revenue Service today released details of a 42-page questionnaire it is sending to roughly 400 colleges to collect information on their executive compensation, endowments, and outside business income.
Among other things, the questionnaire examines how a range of small, medium, and large institutions report income and losses on business activies that may be taxable and how they manage and spend their endowments.
The agency also will examine, in-depth, how colleges pay their presidents and other top executives, including perks such as first-class travel, personal use of a credit card and other services, such as housekeeping and lawn maintenance.
Like a similar questionnaire the IRS required of some tax-exempt hospitals, the reports for individual colleges will not be made public. The agency will compile a summary of its findings and possibly audit some institutions to ensure that they are following existing tax laws.
— Eric Kelderman
Suggestions for the Next President
What should the next U.S. president do on his first day in office? Make a pledge to eradicate nuclear weapons? Build more bike lanes? Create a national sales tax and eliminate all other federal taxes?
A Web site, On Day One, is asking Americans to make their suggestions for what the next resident of the White House should commit to. The Internet project is run by the Better World Fund, an advocacy group in Washington that seeks to improve U.S. relations with the United Nations.
Aside from ideas from everyday people, the Web site includes video interviews with politicians and other well-known figures. Walter Mondale, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984, says that the next president on his first day should promise to build better relations with other nations, while Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat from Washington, wants the new commander-in-chief to pull troops out of Iraq.
What do you think the next president should do on his first day?
Action Urged Against Politicking Pastors
A group advocating separation of church and state has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against six churches it says flagrantly violated federal laws that prohibit clergy members from endorsing political candidates.
The six churches were participants in the so-called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, organized and promoted by the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal support group intent on challenging the federal ban on political endorsements by clergy members.
The alliance has promised to provide legal support for the churches that face legal action.
In all, ADF says 31 churches participated in the sermon challenge, and two more are planning to do so soon. The alliance argues that the federal rules violate the First Amendment right to free speech.
“Pastors have a right to speak about Biblical truths from the pulpit without fear of punishment. No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the organization, in a press release.
Opponents argue that the issue is not about free speech, but over the use of tax-exempt dollars to promote a partisan political agenda.
“When five of the six pastors choose to endorse John McCain, it’s hard not to see the ADF scheme as partisan in character,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in a written statement.