Tax, Legal & Compliance

Senator Requests Further Information from Wounded Warrior Project
March 25, 2016 at 11:49 am

Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) has received a lot of attention about its spending, which has caused some donors to abandon their support of the charity and its board to fire its CEO and chief operating officer, even after the board defended its past expenditures that some deemed excessive. Now, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who serves as chairman for the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked Anthony Odierno, WWP's board chair and interim CEO, to provide spending data not available in tax filings...

Charity Defense Council: 'Significant Factual Errors' in Wounded Warrior Project Investigations
March 18, 2016 at 10:10 am

Charity Defense Council, the nonprofit-advocacy organization founded by Dan Pallotta, on Thursday issued an 11-page media advisory detailing the preliminary findings of its investigation into the allegations CBS News and The New York Times made against Wounded Warrior Project. The organization found "major errors" in the two news outlets' reporting, including "significant factual errors" and "the possibility of material bias."...

Couple Who Died Stole $1M From Nonprofit, Says State Attorney General
March 18, 2016 at 9:49 am

A South Dakota couple who died in a murder-suicide last year stole hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to be used to help improve Native Americans' college readiness, among other things, state Attorney General Marty Jackley said Wednesday. Investigators believe the total amount that Scott and Nicole Westerhuis stole exceeded $1 million, based on a…

Why Your Nonprofit Should Obtain a Trademark for Its Name
March 18, 2016 at 9:16 am

Providing quality services. Raising funds. Promoting public awareness. Regardless of your nonprofit’s core mission, tasks like these are never far from your ever-growing list of things to do. But there’s one more thing you need to add to your list if you haven’t already, and that’s obtaining federal trademark registration for your name...

Wounded Warrior Project Founder Wants to Return as CEO, Has 10-Point Plan to 'Restore Trust'
March 16, 2016 at 10:08 am

On Thursday, Wounded Warrior Project announced that it had fired two top executives and established an office of the CEO, led by board chairman Anthony Odierno, to head up the search for a new leader. Within a day, a familiar face had volunteered. John A. Melia, who founded Wounded Warrior Project in 2003 and led the organization until his departure in 2009, on Friday told The Associated Press that he had requested an "immediate" meeting with the organization's board of directors. And he has a 10-point plan to fix the organization...

Wounded Warrior Project Fires CEO, COO Amid Controversy
March 11, 2016 at 10:57 am

In response to mounting criticism and a potential exodus of major donors after independent investigations by CBS News and The New York Times questioned its spending habits, Wounded Warrior Project last night announced that it has fired CEO Steve Nardizzi and chief operating officer Al Giordano...

Hillary Clinton Won't Cut Tax Deductions to Charities Like Clinton Foundation
March 9, 2016 at 10:35 am

If elected president, Hillary Clinton has promised to make many deductions less valuable for the well-to-do, but she would sidestep impacting their gifts to charity. Clinton has some aggressive tax plans, albeit not as aggressive as those of her fellow Democrat, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton would ask the wealthiest to pay more. She would be most aggressive…

4 Takeaways From New IRS Charitable Contribution Data
March 7, 2016 at 10:04 am

Once again, the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute has researched and compiled an impressive brief utilizing massive amounts of tax data from the IRS. The brief, titled "Profiles of Individual Charitable Contributions by State: 2012," was recently released and contains a wealth of data points. The brief outlines the data from…

Major Wounded Warrior Project Donors End Support
March 7, 2016 at 8:39 am

It's been a little more than a month since CBS News and The New York Times released independent investigations slamming Wounded Warrior Project for allegedly wasting donation money on lavish conferences and events. And while the reports had several noteworthy flaws, the damage is already adding up for the veterans charity. Late last week, CBS News reported that several of Wounded Warrior Project's major donors have ended or plan to end their support...