Tax, Legal & Compliance

Concerns raised about some processes and practices employed by the Goodwill Omaha board of trustees provide valuable object lessons for members of every nonprofit board. Such board members play an important role as stewards of not only their donors’ money but also of their organization’s reputation. As such, they must be wary of even the…

Around this time of the year, we nonprofits work to bring in year-end donations, incurring paper cuts and envelope-tongues in the process (seriously, the glue stick is your friend). Around this time also is when people start pushing guides about which nonprofits to give to, warning of shady nonprofits that spend too much on overhead…

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Ill., is on firm financial footing. Its supporters include some of the city's most philanthropically minded people. Private donors fund almost all of its $10 million annual budget, and it has nearly completed a $30 million capital campaign launched in 2015. What it doesn't have: top…

The new overtime regulations may be implemented or repealed in the coming months. How will nonprofits handle the situation if the regulated overtime pay is no longer required? If they have implemented an overtime-pay-for-extra-work model, how do they then undo it without crashing employee morale and inciting the mass exodus of disgruntled employees that could follow? I talked to several nonprofits to see how they have been preparing...

Yesterday, a federal judge blocked President Obama's rule to amend overtime rule regulations, which was set to take effect next Thursday, Dec. 1. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant agreed with the 21 states and a group of businesses, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that the rule is unlawful, Reuters reported...

As America alternately celebrates and copes with the results of the country's most grueling and contentious presidential election since its birth, nonprofits are already looking ahead. Yesterday, we talked immediate reaction to a Donald Trump presidency. Today, we're looking at the numbers. They don't look great...

Dennis Daugherty wanted to give back, so he decided to host a charity golf tournament for Make-A-Wish Foundation. It would be perfect. Picturesque greens, the whoosh of swinging drivers cutting through the fall breeze, golfers raising money for a great cause—you can't beat that. But there were two minor problems...

Back in February, BBB Wise Giving Alliance alerted the charitable community about a fake-check overpayment scam. It appears this scam is continuing using different names and affiliations, but the same scenario. Charities receive an email from an individual expressing interest in making a five-figure donation, and the individual then sends the gift using overnight mail.…

The CEO of Goodwill Omaha resigned last week in the wake of a World-Herald investigation showing that the charity’s top-dollar executive pay has consumed the profits of its signature thrift stores, leaving scant dollars for programs to help disabled and needy job seekers. Frank McGree, the 64-year-old who led the Omaha charity for 30 years,…

A Portland, Ore., bookkeeper—who said she couldn't stay quiet about "disturbing" spending by a nonprofit organization that was supposed to help Oregon's foster children—is suing her former employer for $375,000, claiming she was wrongfully fired from her job. Deborah Muller said in a lawsuit filed last week that she lost sleep after her boss, certified…