Tax, Legal & Compliance

What would you do if your organization received a sizable donation from an individual who, months later, was charged with a federal crime? Would you keep the donation or give it back? That’s the question facing Hunter College High School in the wake of Thursday’s arrest of Martin Shkreli, a 32-year-old multimillionaire pharmaceuticals executive who once attended the school...

Charities and donors have been in limbo, waiting for Congress to decide whether to renew expired tax laws that help funnel more to charity. In a midnight deal, House Republicans have put together a spending and tax law package that includes making many items on the charities’ wish lists permanent–and retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015.…

Until early last year, the website of a Brooklyn, New York-based charity called the National Children’s Leukemia Foundation boasted that the organization had its own “biomedical cancer research center,” where “leading scientists” were working on cancer treatments. A PowerPoint slide that the group’s founder, Zvi Shor, used in a presentation showed an office building where…

On Monday, Consumer Reports released its "Best and Worst Charities For Your Donations" list. By no means as comprehensive as the magazine's robust coverage and hands-on reviews of cars, appliances and electronics, the list is intended as a snapshot for would-be donors, offering tips for avoiding charity scams and more. There's some sound advice in there, but the list itself leaves us with some questions...

A Field Museum employee taking memberships at the door pocketed $900,000 in cash over seven years and is being investigated by federal authorities, museum executives said Friday. Disclosure of the alleged theft was made in a federally mandated tax report the natural history institution filed earlier this month. “Yes, it’s embarrassing somebody got away with…

In late September, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed a new substantiation rule that would allow charities to self-report donations of more than $250. Under current rules, donors wishing to claim a charitable income tax deduction are required to obtain and submit a contemporaneous written acknowledgement (CWA) from the nonprofit receiving the donation. The new proposal would require the reporting charity to collect donors' names, addresses and Social Security numbers. That last item has U.S. nonprofits worried...

Months after a missing shipment of Haiti-bound relief supplies was discovered in South Florida, the shipyard where it still sits is refusing to release it. That’s despite pleas from the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based charity that shipped the container, which included $150,000 worth of medical and other supplies donated by more than a dozen West Michigan…

A former chairman of the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) board of directors is suing the museum, alleging misuse of his $1.4 million donation. In 2004, Robert Lang made a donation to name a wing of MOSI after his wife, Whitney Lang, who died the year before. Under the agreed-upon terms, the wing was…

The Hancock County Board of Supervisors wants a state audit of a nonprofit agency that receives federal funding to assist the underprivileged because four board members have resigned, saying they fear they will be liable because of mismanagement by other key board members. The four board members who resigned from the Gulf Coast Community Action…

Hunger Free Vermont, a nonprofit advocacy and education group that works to reduce malnutrition across Vermont, said it suspects a former employee stole significant sums of money from the charity. "We never thought it would be us," said Marissa Parisi, the organization's executive director. "I think this is one of the hardest things Hunger Free…