Government & Regulation

Fighting charity fraud could become more difficult under a Republican bill in Congress to prohibit the IRS from collecting the names of top donors to charities and other nonprofit groups, critics warned on Tuesday. Meant to protect the privacy of wealthy individuals who make anonymous, or "dark money," donations to politically active nonprofit groups, the…

When the phone rang in November 2015, Danette Crenshaw of Glencoe, Minn., declined to donate $20 to an organization called the Foundation for American Veterans. So she was confused when she got a call from the same group a few days later, claiming that she had pledged $20 and asking that she immediately pay over…

Sotsium was a largely unremarkable Russian nongovernmental organization (NGO) working to stop the spread of HIV in the small Volga River city of Engels, where Russia’s HIV epidemic is growing at one of the fastest rates nationwide. Besides educational drives, the charity distributed syringes and clean needles to people at risk. But last month, a…

The U.S. Supreme Court punted on a challenge by religious nonprofit groups to the Obamacare contraception mandate, sending the case back to lower courts to allow the parties to work out a compromise among themselves. The nonprofit groups challenged an "opt-out" provision of the law, which allowed such nonprofits to avoid providing no-cost contraception to…

Despite a strict prohibition against electioneering, nearly 90 nonprofit churches, hospitals and schools in Illinois collectively donated more than $80,000 to local campaign groups over the past decade with little or no consequences, a Better Government Association analysis found. While nonprofits, such as trade associations and unions, are allowed to engage in some campaigning, the…

A group of service providers who contract with Illinois state government sued Gov. Bruce Rauner and members of his administration last week for stiffing them on bills for services that they've provided since the state budget impasse began in July. In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the Pay Now Illinois coalition of…

In a sign of the continuing chaos at the top of the $12 billion Hershey charity, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General is seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members at the Hershey School for poor children, according to a letter from the office obtained by The Inquirer. The resignations would amount to an…

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Thursday he intends to take court action to stop a Utah telemarketing company from using what he called “deceptive, unsavory and aggressive” solicitation tactics to extract charitable contributions that Michigan residents have said they never agreed to make. Schuette said in a statement that he will ask for a…

Some nonprofits had to endure weeks or months—10 months and counting for Illinois—without a budget this fiscal year. With budget impasses becoming more common, what can you do to prepare if or when one affects your state and your nonprofit?

Things just got considerably more complicated for foreign NGOs in China. Yesterday, the China’s National People’s Congress passed the foreign NGO “management” law, The Guardian reported. The law, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, mandates that all foreign NGOs must register with public security officers, and have an official Chinese sponsor or host organization...