Tax, Legal & Compliance

The executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America has unanimously approved a resolution that would drop the group’s blanket ban on openly gay leaders, a key step that puts the organization on the verge of its second historic shift in three years. While the proposed change stops short of requiring all Scout units to allow gay…

For decades, the Chicana Service Action Center received millions of dollars in taxpayer money to help some of the county's most disadvantaged residents: the homeless, the unemployed, victims of domestic violence, foster youth looking for work. The nonprofit organization also played a pivotal role in launching the political career of former County Supervisor Gloria Molina,…

Earlier this year, a pair of nonprofits were hacked by Islamic State sympathizers. Ultimately, both nonprofits would recover with little lasting damage, but it was a chilling reminder that no one, not even small, low-profile organizations, is invulnerable to cyber attack. The scariest part? It can be so much worse. You've got to be prepared...

A now-defunct fundraising company faces a lawsuit after closing its Oshkosh call center abruptly last week, forcing more than 100 out of work. Minnesota-based Strategic Fundraising, which shuttered Monday, June 29, claimed in filings to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that it didn't need to give 60 days notice of the layoff as required…

Daniel Maher, a program director for the Ecology Center, a Berkeley, California-based nonprofit, is being held by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) and could be deported, reports the Daily Californian. Maher was born in China and lived there for three years before moving to the U.S. He served seven years in prison for involvement in a robbery when he was 20 years old—more than two decades ago...

The Federal Trade Commission has landed hard on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform. It may be just what the doctor ordered to protect people donating to odd and sundry products and companies pitched on Kickstarter, Indiegogo and others. In the world of crowdfunding, the mechanisms of consumer protection are pretty thin. While crowdfunding platforms assert a…

Nonprofit hospitals across New Jersey could be liable for millions of dollars in annual property taxes, under a ruling by a tax-court judge that highlighted the difficulty in separating the charitable and for-profit activities of hospitals and other organizations. The judge found that Morristown Medical Center had so intermingled its nonprofit and for-profit services and…

There appears to be a popular misconception that the only thing that needs to be done to have a copyright is to place the designation © or a notation that “All Rights Are Reserved” on materials for which copyright protection is sought. While that may be true—at least in part—one cannot sue under the federal Copyright Act for infringement unless the copyright is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Skimming cash, purchasing schemes and financial statement fraud—three very different types of fraud that nonprofits must prevent, detect and insure against. Still, behind each of them—and every variety of deliberate, deceptive acts against nonprofits—there’s a fundamental and shared dynamic at play. Fraud isn’t just an operational or financial risk. It’s inherently a human risk, meaning it often…

When Condoleezza Rice headlined a 2009 fundraising luncheon for the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, she collected a $60,000 speaking fee, then donated almost all of it back to the club, according to multiple sources familiar with the club’s finances. Hillary Clinton was not so generous to the small charity, which provides after-school…