Many donors only give to charities that demonstrate specific evidence of their success. The governor of Massachusetts is now turning this commonly held standard into new state legislation. It’s called Social Innovation Financing. MA’s Governor Deval Patrick and Lt. Governor Timothy Murray released a statement explaining that it’s a “simple premise – have government pay …
Posts Categorized: News
Watch Out Politically Minded 501(c)(4)s, the NY AG is Getting to Work
While the IRS finally agreed to reevaluate regulations concerning politically minded 501(c)(4)s, the NY Attorney General isn’t happy just sitting around and waiting. Instead, NY AG Eric Schneiderman recently sent letters to over 20 politically motivated 501(c)(4) organizations, asking for tax and other financial records. Democratic and republican organizations alike are receiving these requests, including …
Is a Mandatory Payout for Donor Advised Funds on the Horizon?
How many of our readers have money in donor advised funds (DAFs)? If you are one of those readers, you may soon be hearing a lot more about a mandatory 5% annual payout. That’s because earlier this summer, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report concluding that, like private foundations, DAFs should have a …
The AG Provides a “How Not to” Manual for Charities
As CNN reported last week, the CA Attorney General filed a claim against Help Hospitalized Veterans (HHV) accusing the board of, among other things, diverting and wasting charitable assets. The AG alleges that the board approved excessive compensations, failed to have an adequate policy on employee reimbursement, made imprudent loans, and donated money to another …
Madoffs Can't Even Give Their Money Away
When your organization accepts a donation, does it first consider the source of the donation? The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund did just that when it turned down more than $250,000 in gifts last year from organizations founded by sons of Bernie Madoff. The Fund isn’t making public why it rejected the funds, but possible reasons …
Restrictions on Property Strike Again!
As we told you before, organizations and donors alike need to be careful when a contribution is made. We recently got another reminder on this. This time it wasn’t a true contribution, but a sale of real estate at a deeply discounted price. A land advocate, who died in 2005, sold the property to Johns …