The NY Times reported that the number of organizations that can offer their donors a tax break in the name of charity has grown more than 60 percent in the United States, to 1.1 million, in just a decade.
Experts say nonprofits are skillfully exploiting the tax code’s broad and elastic definition of what constitutes such a charity, making it difficult for the Internal Revenue Service, which must bless them, to say no. The agency approved 99 percent of the applications for public charity status last year, according to a new study by students at Stanford University — or more than one every 10 to 15 minutes.
Take the Woohoo Sistahs, a social club that won approval last year. Its 50 or so members meet regularly over drinks and dinner in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia and raise money for cancer research and other causes through walkathons and sales held in retailers’ parking lots.
What the Sistahs do is not so different from what the Shriners have done for decades to raise money for their hospitals — except that the Sistahs can offer their donors a tax break that the Shriners cannot because decades ago they registered as a different type of charity with the I.R.S. (Direct donation to Shriners hospitals are deductible.)
The $300 billion donated to charities last year cost the federal government more than $50 billion in lost tax revenue.
“Especially during these tough economic times, it’s troubling to hear we are increasing the number of these organizations at such a rapid pace,” said Representative Xavier Becerra, a California Democrat who is one of the few members of Congress to pay attention to the nonprofit sector.
“It’s not free,” Mr. Becerra said, “and so we need to do something to make sure taxpayers are getting a big enough benefit in return.”
Timothy Delaney, chief executive of the National Council of Nonprofits, agreed that the rapid increase in charities was an issue but said that addressing it would be extremely complicated.
“What are we going to do?” Mr. Delaney asked. “Have some bureaucrat establish a quota for arts organizations? Or after-school programs?” Read more here.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Women Who Mean Business: Mary Seeley, Nonprofit Leader
The Albany Business Review featured a story on Mary Seeley, the Executive Director for Equinox. As the article relates:
Mary Seeley had two reasons to worry when the economy stumbled.
As more people around the region began losing their jobs last year, the executive director of Equinox Inc. of Albany knew her organization would have to work harder to serve a growing number of impoverished and homeless women and children.
At the same time, she feared federal and state budget cuts might slash Equinox’s $4.5 million annual operating budget, making it more difficult for her staff of 100 to respond. Eighty-three percent of the nonprofit’s revenue comes from government sources.
“It’s been both a blessing and a challenge that we manage so many grants,” said Mary Seeley, who was named The Business Review's Nonprofit Leader in 2009. Read more here.
Mary Seeley had two reasons to worry when the economy stumbled.
As more people around the region began losing their jobs last year, the executive director of Equinox Inc. of Albany knew her organization would have to work harder to serve a growing number of impoverished and homeless women and children.
At the same time, she feared federal and state budget cuts might slash Equinox’s $4.5 million annual operating budget, making it more difficult for her staff of 100 to respond. Eighty-three percent of the nonprofit’s revenue comes from government sources.
“It’s been both a blessing and a challenge that we manage so many grants,” said Mary Seeley, who was named The Business Review's Nonprofit Leader in 2009. Read more here.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
NY State Council on the Arts Announces Important Changes for Fiscal Year 2011
Dear Colleagues,
As we approach the holiday season and the end of another year, I want to take a moment to update you on some important changes that are taking place here at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
In Fiscal Year 2011 (calendar year 2010), we will implement a series of changes to NYSCA’s annual application calendar in an effort to further improve our grantmaking process and better serve New York’s cultural community. As a result, a number of important deadlines, including the close of registration, will now shift to earlier points in the calendar year. Given these changes, it is tremendously important that you take careful note of NYSCA’s FY11 calendar, provided below. Please pay particular attention to NYSCA’s registration deadline (January 22, 2010) and first application deadline (February 17, 2010).
I also want to take this opportunity to update you on the latest news regarding NYSCA and the New York State Cultural Data Project (CDP). As you know, NYSCA has been working with a Taskforce of funders and arts organizations throughout the past year to help launch CDP in New York State. Now, NYSCA is prepared to accept CDP Data Profiles as a part of the FY11 grant application process.
The use of CDP will be optional for NYSCA applicants in FY11, but will be required of all applicants in FY12. However, we want to encourage all organizations to begin using this powerful online tool today. To that end, applicants who have completed a CDP Data Profile before NYSCA’s first FY11 application deadline (February 17, 2010) will be able to submit the Data Profile as a substitute for NYSCA’s three-year “Organizational Budget”.
To find out more about CDP, review the information below and visit http://www.nysculturaldata.org/.
If you have any questions about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact a staff person in your funding program so that you can work together to address your concerns.
Sincerely,
Heather Hitchens
Executive Director
NYSCA CALENDAR – FISCAL YEAR 2011
As we approach the holiday season and the end of another year, I want to take a moment to update you on some important changes that are taking place here at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
In Fiscal Year 2011 (calendar year 2010), we will implement a series of changes to NYSCA’s annual application calendar in an effort to further improve our grantmaking process and better serve New York’s cultural community. As a result, a number of important deadlines, including the close of registration, will now shift to earlier points in the calendar year. Given these changes, it is tremendously important that you take careful note of NYSCA’s FY11 calendar, provided below. Please pay particular attention to NYSCA’s registration deadline (January 22, 2010) and first application deadline (February 17, 2010).
I also want to take this opportunity to update you on the latest news regarding NYSCA and the New York State Cultural Data Project (CDP). As you know, NYSCA has been working with a Taskforce of funders and arts organizations throughout the past year to help launch CDP in New York State. Now, NYSCA is prepared to accept CDP Data Profiles as a part of the FY11 grant application process.
The use of CDP will be optional for NYSCA applicants in FY11, but will be required of all applicants in FY12. However, we want to encourage all organizations to begin using this powerful online tool today. To that end, applicants who have completed a CDP Data Profile before NYSCA’s first FY11 application deadline (February 17, 2010) will be able to submit the Data Profile as a substitute for NYSCA’s three-year “Organizational Budget”.
To find out more about CDP, review the information below and visit http://www.nysculturaldata.org/.
If you have any questions about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact a staff person in your funding program so that you can work together to address your concerns.
Sincerely,
Heather Hitchens
Executive Director
NYSCA CALENDAR – FISCAL YEAR 2011
- December 15, 2009
FY11 Application Guidelines Available - January 4, 2010
Registration Opens - January 22, 2010
Registration Closes - February 17, 2010
1st Application Deadline - February 17, 2010
CDP Data Profile Completion Deadline (optional in FY11—see below) - April 12, 2010
2nd Application Deadline
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Stewart’s Shops’ Dakes donate $3.9M to Community Foundation
The Business Review reported that local philanthropists William Dake and Susan Dake have donated $3.9 million to the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region in Albany, N.Y., to establish a donor-advised fund.
The donation creates the Susan and Bill Dake Fund, from which the Dakes can direct money to the causes of their choice. Read more here.
The donation creates the Susan and Bill Dake Fund, from which the Dakes can direct money to the causes of their choice. Read more here.
Cuomo: Telemarketers big winners in charity fundraising
The Albany Business Review reported that telemarketers pocketed 60 cents of every fundraising dollar that they raised for charities in 2008, according to a report issued today by the state attorney general’s office.
An average of 39.5 cents of every charitable dollar raised by professional telemarketing companies actually went to the nonprofit in 2008, the report states.
The report, “Pennies for Charity, Where Your Money Goes: Telemarketing by Professional Fund Raisers,” summarizes information filed with the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau by professional fund raisers who conducted telemarketing campaigns in 2008.
According to the report, telemarketers raised a total of $204.8 million on behalf of 444 New York charities in 2008. In total, $123.9 million, or approximately 60.5 percent, was paid to the telemarketers as profits, fees and other costs of the campaigns leaving charities with less than 39.5 percent of the money actually raised for their causes. The report looked at 584 fundraising campaigns. Read more here.
An average of 39.5 cents of every charitable dollar raised by professional telemarketing companies actually went to the nonprofit in 2008, the report states.
The report, “Pennies for Charity, Where Your Money Goes: Telemarketing by Professional Fund Raisers,” summarizes information filed with the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau by professional fund raisers who conducted telemarketing campaigns in 2008.
According to the report, telemarketers raised a total of $204.8 million on behalf of 444 New York charities in 2008. In total, $123.9 million, or approximately 60.5 percent, was paid to the telemarketers as profits, fees and other costs of the campaigns leaving charities with less than 39.5 percent of the money actually raised for their causes. The report looked at 584 fundraising campaigns. Read more here.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Five Trends Help to Create "Nonprofits of the Future," Report Says
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that the nonprofit field isn’t going to simply bounce back a few years from now to the state it was in before the recession. That’s the message behind a new report by La Piana Consulting, which explores five trends that are hastening the emergence of a new nonprofit landscape.
Those trends are:
Shifting demographics. With new generations making up a growing share of the work force, charities must learn to share leadership with younger workers, the report says.
Technological advances. Social-media technologies provide charities the opportunity to gain greater exposure, but they also require groups to be comfortable giving more people within their organization a chance to speak out.
New ways to collaborate. With the advent of new technologies, organizations can just as easily work with an individual located across the world as they can through traditional coalitions and alliances, according to the report.
Greater interest in service. Last year’s presidential election spurred interest in volunteerism, but nonprofit groups need to keep in mind that people have many different reasons for volunteering and ought to tailor their opportunities to individuals’ interests.
Blurred lines between nonprofit and for-profit. Greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility and the emergence of businesses whose primary aim is to do good are challenging the nonprofit field’s traditional identity but are also creating opportunities for new partnerships and collaboration, says the report. Read more here or to download the report.
Those trends are:
Shifting demographics. With new generations making up a growing share of the work force, charities must learn to share leadership with younger workers, the report says.
Technological advances. Social-media technologies provide charities the opportunity to gain greater exposure, but they also require groups to be comfortable giving more people within their organization a chance to speak out.
New ways to collaborate. With the advent of new technologies, organizations can just as easily work with an individual located across the world as they can through traditional coalitions and alliances, according to the report.
Greater interest in service. Last year’s presidential election spurred interest in volunteerism, but nonprofit groups need to keep in mind that people have many different reasons for volunteering and ought to tailor their opportunities to individuals’ interests.
Blurred lines between nonprofit and for-profit. Greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility and the emergence of businesses whose primary aim is to do good are challenging the nonprofit field’s traditional identity but are also creating opportunities for new partnerships and collaboration, says the report. Read more here or to download the report.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Budget Cuts Threaten Local Nonprofit, Times Union Piece Garners Community Comments
Center for Disability Services warns of pending cuts
From the Times Union, November 9, 2009 at 11:10 am by Chris Churchill
The Center for Disability Services, an Albany non-profit and one of the largest private employers in the Capital Region, is warning its employees that stark cuts to services and employment are looming.
The agency on Friday told its workers that budget cuts proposed by Gov. David Paterson “puts the Center’s system of care in peril.”
“We can’t endure more loss of funds and still provide basic services,” Alan Krafchin, the center’s president, said in a letter distributed to employees.
The center is based in Albany and has an annual budget of more than $100 million. Nearly all of that money comes from government sources, supplemented by private donations and a commercial mailing business the center runs.
Krafchin says Paterson’s proposed $65 million cut to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities will reduce funding to the center by about $2.5 million.
Earlier this year, the Center for Disability Services shuttered day care and pre-school classroom, resulting in about 50 job losses.
The Center for Disability Services has 2,400 employees and calls itself the seventh-largest private employer in the Capital Region. It provides services to 15,000 people at 85 locations in nine upstate counties.
It is far larger than most Capital Region non-profits. But its financial concerns mirror those faced by most charitable organizations, both locally and nationally, in a down economy.
From the Times Union, November 9, 2009 at 11:10 am by Chris Churchill
The Center for Disability Services, an Albany non-profit and one of the largest private employers in the Capital Region, is warning its employees that stark cuts to services and employment are looming.
The agency on Friday told its workers that budget cuts proposed by Gov. David Paterson “puts the Center’s system of care in peril.”
“We can’t endure more loss of funds and still provide basic services,” Alan Krafchin, the center’s president, said in a letter distributed to employees.
The center is based in Albany and has an annual budget of more than $100 million. Nearly all of that money comes from government sources, supplemented by private donations and a commercial mailing business the center runs.
Krafchin says Paterson’s proposed $65 million cut to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities will reduce funding to the center by about $2.5 million.
Earlier this year, the Center for Disability Services shuttered day care and pre-school classroom, resulting in about 50 job losses.
The Center for Disability Services has 2,400 employees and calls itself the seventh-largest private employer in the Capital Region. It provides services to 15,000 people at 85 locations in nine upstate counties.
It is far larger than most Capital Region non-profits. But its financial concerns mirror those faced by most charitable organizations, both locally and nationally, in a down economy.
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