Tax, Legal & Compliance

Tesco Criticized for Deducting £3.4M From Plastic Bag Tax Charity Donations
September 7, 2017 at 1:18 pm

Millions of pounds in administration costs were deducted from the charitable donations made by Tesco using funds generated from the plastic bag tax, government data has revealed. No other major supermarket made any such deductions, leading senior MPs to urge Tesco to follow their lead. The 5p charge for plastic bags was introduced in England…

Why Is Fair-Market Value So Difficult?
July 27, 2017 at 10:54 am

I had a math teacher in high school who, when asked questions about the basic rules of algebra, would answer, “It’s algebra. You don’t question why, you just do it according to the rules laid out.” A similar process is used when assessing and reporting Fair-Market Value—if a donor receives something from a nonprofit in exchange for their charitable donation...

Dentists Accuse Delta Dental of Violating Nonprofit Rules
June 22, 2017 at 12:21 pm

A group of dentists at odds with the Massachusetts' largest dental insurer are accusing the company of violating nonprofit rules and engaging in anticompetitive behavior, and they’re asking Attorney General Maura Healey’s office to investigate. The dentists detailed their complaints against Delta Dental of Massachusetts in an 11-page letter to Healey, penned by their lawyer, James…

Be Prepared for an Audit: Avoid These 4 Mistakes
June 15, 2017 at 12:00 pm

June to-do lists of most nonprofits are always focused on the financial preparations for the upcoming fiscal year. Yet, many still remain unprepared for the possibility of a future audit. To prevent being blindsided in the future, it would be beneficial for nonprofits to move some of their attention from this fiscal year to re-evaluating their organization’s workflow and infrastructure...

More Donors Starting Funds Rather Than Giving Directly to Charities
April 19, 2017 at 9:13 am

For the first time on record, the nonprofit that received the most in donations in the country is not what you typically think of as a nonprofit—and that has some in the nonprofit sector worried that the new model is upending traditional philanthropy. Giving accounts allow donors to get an immediate tax benefit when they…

UK Charities Fined by Watchdog for Wealth Screening of Donors
April 6, 2017 at 10:33 pm

Eleven of Britain’s best-known charities have been fined for breaching data protection rules. Some were secretly subjecting millions of their donors to “wealth-screening” operations to target them for additional fundraising. The Royal British Legion, Oxfam, Cancer Research UK and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association are among those found by the Information Commissioner’s Office…

Does the Charitable Tax Deduction Motivate You to Donate?
March 24, 2017 at 8:18 am

I spend a great deal of time thinking about potential donors. I believe research is one of the keys to success in fundraising. My excitement comes when I engage with people and ask for a gift. The greatest percentage of a fundraising person’s time, unfortunately, is not exciting...

Association of Fundraising Professionals Weighs in on Johnson Amendment Repeal
February 23, 2017 at 11:11 am

Earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump publicly announced that he intends on repealing the Johnson Amendment. Last week, we published an article about our thoughts on the Johnson Amendment and how its repeal could affect nonprofit organizations. Slowly nonprofits are voicing opinions about what this could mean for the nonprofit sector...

Trump Reverses Abortion Policy for Aid to NGOs
January 24, 2017 at 8:00 am

President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Monday reinstating the so-called Mexico City Policy, which bars international non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortions from receiving U.S. government funding. "The President, it's no secret, has made it very clear that he's a pro-life president," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his…