Legislation

HAR BRACHA, West Bank — Twice a year, American evangelicals show up at a winery in this Jewish settlement in the hills of ancient Samaria to play a direct role in biblical prophecy, picking grapes and pruning vines.

Believing that Christian help for Jewish winemakers here in the occupied West Bank foretells Christ’s second coming, they are recruited by a Tennessee-based charity called HaYovel that invites volunteers “to labor side by side with the people of Israel” and “to share with them a passion for the soon coming jubilee in Yeshua, messiah.”

More than 4,100 Minnesota nonprofits remain on the so-called "doomsday" list of organizations at risk of losing their tax-exempt status for failure to file federal tax returns, according to a count released Wednesday by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.

The organizations, ranging from Little Leagues to labor unions, failed to meet the May 17 deadline to file federal tax returns. Under a new law, all nonprofits must file tax returns. In the past, only those earning more than $25,000 a year had to do so.

WASHINGTON - June 30 - Today, 150 nonprofit and allied organizations sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission supporting the agency's efforts to protect the open Internet. A diverse group of organizations, including Free Press, NTEN, NOW, ColorofChange.org, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, Miles for Cystic Fibrosis and Helping Hands Pet Rescue, signed the letter.

"We are pleased that so many organizations are lending their voice to this important issue that affects all organizations, large and small," said Free Press Associate Outreach Director Misty Perez Truedson. "The open Internet is vital to reaching members and activists and is invaluable as a medium for civic engagement. There is growing momentum to counter big phone and big cable lobbying efforts and to put consumers first."

Many nonprofit organizations in New York are deeply concerned they will lose significant contributions from wealthy donors if a pending state budget proposal becomes law. The proposal would reduce the charitable-contribution deductions allowed for individual donors who are “high earners.”

Gov. David Paterson and the state legislature are in a bitter battle as they try to finalize a budget during the bad economic times, but they apparently have agreed on a proposal that would allow the approximately 3,500 New York taxpayers who earn more than $10-million annually to deduct on their state tax returns only 25 percent of their charitable contributions rather than the current 50 percent.

Human-rights and humanitarian organizations lost a Supreme Court case Monday when the justices upheld a federal law that prohibits U.S. organizations from providing “material support” to designated terrorist groups. Some nonprofit groups had argued that the law prevents them from engaging in peace-building work and jeopardizes aid in conflict zones.

The challenge was brought by the Humanitarian Law Project, a nonprofit organization in California that sought to provide training in conflict resolution to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist group. A 1996 law that was revised under the Patriot Act made it a crime to provide “material support”—including services, training, expert advice, and personnel—to terrorist groups, even if the work has legal and peaceful goals.

More than 50 liberal nonprofit advocacy groups have joined forces to fight a proposed exemption to a campaign-finance bill that would benefit large membership organizations like the National Rifle Association.

"It is inappropriate and inequitable to create a two-tiered system of campaign finance laws and First Amendment protections, one for the most powerful and influential and another for everyone else," says a letter sent yesterday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was signed by groups including the Alliance for Justice, the Campaign for Community Change, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a variety of anti-gun-violence groups, and the Sierra Club and several other environmental organizations.

Betty McCollum, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, plans to introduce legislation on Wednesday to get the federal government to pay more attention to the economic impact of the nonprofit world.

The Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act would create two new bodies to make recommendations about federal policy affecting charities and require federal agencies to step up their collection of data about such organizations.

Washington, DC - 06/14/2010 - The April 20 explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform killed 11 workers and unleashed a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond the immediate human tragedy, this disaster has imperiled the ecosystem along the U.S. Gulf Coast and impacted residents who depend on a healthy Gulf.

This spill did not need to happen. In its wake, the spotlight has focused on multiple failures of our legislative and regulatory system. The Pew Environment Group is concentrating its efforts on changing these laws and regulations to help ensure that this tragic spill is not repeated.

One of the great ironies of the Great Recession is that charities are struggling when we need them most. And now the federal government is considering changes in the 2010 budget that would only make things worse.

President Obama's proposed budget would raise taxes on single households making $200,000 or more and couples making $250,000 or more, as well as limit their deduction for charitable giving to 28 percent, compared to the current 33 to 35 percent.

The House of Representatives has approved legislation to extend through the end of 2010 several key tax incentives for charitable donations, including one designed to encourage older people to make donations through their individual retirement accounts.

The bill, HR 4213, will be considered by the Senate when it returns to work the week of June 7.