Government & Regulation

Australian Man Detained in Dubai for Sharing a Facebook Charity Post Helping Refugees
August 23, 2016 at 10:54 am

A dual national British-Australian man has been arrested and detained in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for sharing on Facebook a link to a fundraising campaign benefiting refugees in Afghanistan. Scott Richards, who lives in the United Arab Emirates city with his family but is a citizen of both Australia and the U.K., was charged with…

US Swimmer Jimmy Feigen to Make Charitable Donation in Exchange for His Freedom
August 23, 2016 at 10:47 am

Jimmy Feigen, who has been accused by Brazilian authorities of fabricating a robbery claim along with Ryan Lochte and two other U.S. swimming teammates, will pay about $10,800 to an unnamed Brazilian charity and then leave the country, his attorney told the Associated Press early Friday. According to attorney Breno Melaragno, Brazilian law allows people…

Lab Loses Decade of Cancer Studies After Nonprofit's Bankruptcy
August 16, 2016 at 10:24 am

Lynn Hlatky has spent her career as a scientist studying the development of cancer, hoping in some way to improve understanding of an insidious disease. She took a path common in her field: won funding, established a lab, assembled a team of colleagues and got to work. But now, a decade of Hlatky’s work suddenly…

Feds Deny For-Profit College's Request to Turn Nonprofit
August 12, 2016 at 9:37 am

The government is accusing a for-profit college chain of trying to evade regulations by turning into a nonprofit. The Department of Education denied the application of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, or CEHE, a Utah-based for-profit college chain with roughly 12,000 students, to convert into a nonprofit school, which in some cases aren’t…

Why the New Overtime Rules Are Good for Nonprofits and Thus for Our Community
August 11, 2016 at 9:00 am

If you work in nonprofit in the U.S., you have heard that new federal overtime laws/rules are coming. They affect how we categorize the professionals in our sector—“exempt” or “non-exempt”—and how we pay them, whether through set salaries or through hourly wages that include overtime for hours worked over 40. If reading that sentence makes…

Nonprofit Agency Acted as Government Agent in Opening Email, Court Rules
August 11, 2016 at 8:56 am

A national clearinghouse for missing and exploited children should have gotten a warrant before going through the email attachments of a man suspected of trafficking in child pornography, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled Aug. 5 (United States v. Ackerman, 2016 BL 253852, 10th Cir., No. 14-3265, 8/5/16). Although the National…

Court: IRS Needs to Prove It Isn't Targeting Conservative Groups
August 9, 2016 at 10:00 am

A federal appeals court said the Internal Revenue Service has not proven it has ended discriminatory practices against conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, reinstating a lawsuit against the troubled agency. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's unanimous order on Friday reversed a 2014 lower district court ruling that previously dismissed…

Layoffs Expected, Huge Revenue Drop Possible at Wounded Warrior Project
August 8, 2016 at 11:47 am

It's been a rough six months for Wounded Warrior Project, and it's about to get rougher. New Wounded Warrior Project CEO Michael Linnington, who took over for former CEO Steven Nardizzi and former Chief Operating Officer Al Giordano following the charity's massive public controversy, said he expects layoffs as part of the organization's restructuring. And it's possible the charity will see a 50 percent drop in revenue this year...

Overtime Rules: A Third of Nonprofits Expect Staff Cuts, Reduced Services
July 12, 2016 at 8:44 am

The Department of Labor in May announced new overtime rules, effective Dec. 1, that will make millions more Americans eligible for overtime. Predictably, reaction has been mixed, but it wasn't clear exactly how the rules would affect the sector. Now, we have a better understanding. National Council of Nonprofits last week released the results of a national survey polling nonprofits with government grants and contracts on the overtime rule changes, and the results are, well, kinda grim...

FBI Director Won't Say If Clinton Foundation Was or Is Currently Under Investigation
July 8, 2016 at 10:29 am

FBI Director James Comey refused to say Thursday whether the bureau investigated the Clinton Foundation as part of its probe into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information as secretary of state. “Did you look at the Clinton Foundation?” House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz asked. “I’m not going to comment on the existence or non-existence…