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Make a Wish Foundation: Sorry, critically ill children who aren't fully vaccinated, no wishes for you. Oh, and that includes the rest of your family. Aren't eligible for the vaccine? Tough luck. Have a good day.

A Christian nursing home in Switzerland must allow assisted suicide or lose its charitable statusA Swiss court has ruled that a Christian nursing home must either permit assisted suicide on its premises or give up its charitable status. The nursing home, which is run by the Salvation Army, the UK-based Christian charity, lost a legal challenge to new assisted suicide rules. The regulations, introduced about a year ago, compel charities caring for the sick and elderly to offer assisted suicide when a patient or resident requests it. The nursing home objected on the grounds that the law violated the core...

How miserly is The Donald? From 1990 through 2009, Trump has personally donated a total of just $3.7 million to his foundation, which was incorporated in 1987. In fact, the billionaire is not even the largest contributor to his own charitable organization. Tax returns show that World Wrestling Entertainment has given Trump’s foundation a total of $5 million in return for the developer’s assistance in working a couple of televised angles along with WWE boss Vince McMahon. The WWE gave Trump’s foundation $4 million in 2007 for his help in promoting that year’s WrestleMania festivities, and another $1 million in...

Two days after announcing plans to donate $45 billion over time to his family foundation, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to criticism about his philanthropic ambitions. In a Facebook post on Thursday, he pushed back against accusations that he had structured his foundation, not so much as a charity, but as a vehicle for evading taxes and making financially motivated investments under the guise of doing good. Zuckerberg created the foundation as a limited liability corporation instead of a traditional foundation. He said that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, would fund it with 99% of his wealth, made from...

Charitable hospitals that treat uninsured Americans will be subjected to new levels of scrutiny of their nonprofit status and could face sizable new fines under Obamacare. A new provision in Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code, which takes effect under Obamacare, sets new standards of review and installs new financial penalties for tax-exempt charitable hospitals, which devote a minimum amount of their expenses to treat uninsured poor people. Approximately 60 percent of American hospitals are currently nonprofit. Charity for the uninsured is one of the factors that could discourage enrollment in Obamacare, which requires all Americans to purchase heath...

10. Riverside, Calif. => Riverside, CA is home to the organization called, “Inland Empire Atheists and Agnostics”. 9. Chula Vista, Calif. => President Barack Obama signed the plan approving of a bridge to Tijuana airport. In 2009, Chula Vista was ranked as one of the most boring cities in America by Forbes Magazine. 8. Toledo, Ohio => Tony Packo's Cafe is located in Toledo and features hundreds of hot dog buns signed by celebrities.[16] 7. Garland, Texas => The Effluent from Garland’s Wastewater Treatment Plant reduces the sediment and nitrogen contents of the water to a drinkable level providing millions...

Financial firms and other companies receiving billions of dollars in federal bailout money spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for meetings and charitable gifts on behalf of lawmakers. In the last six months of 2008, as a financial crisis enveloped the country and lawmakers voted on a $700 billion financial rescue package, eight companies that would benefit from that package spent roughly $366,000 on events and charities connected to members of Congress, according to a review of congressional lobbying records. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage companies, spent more than $330,000 in the period, but since...

A nonprofit organization founded by California's largest union local reported spending nothing on its charitable purpose -- to develop housing for low-income workers -- during at least two of the four years it has been operating, federal records show. The charity, launched by a scandal-ridden Los Angeles chapter of the Service Employees International Union, had total expenses of about $165,000 for 2005 and 2006, and all of the money went to consulting fees, insurance costs and other overhead, according to its Internal Revenue Service filings. Charity watchdogs say that nonprofits should never have zero program expenses in two successive years...

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2008 – In 2006, a Five for Fighting hit single asked fans what kind of world they wanted, and now they have a forum to answer the question and help five charities at the same time. “Whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com is a ‘You Tube’ for charity, where people can upload videos related to any subject they would like, and then pick a charity from the list I’ve selected,” said John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting, who created the site about a year ago. The charities include Operation Homefront and Fisher House, which support the troops, as well as Augie’s...

Charitable Nation America, the generous. By Jonah Goldberg Americans are better people than Europeans. Hold on, it gets better. Religious Americans are better than non-religious Americans. And religious Americans tend to be politically conservative. This admittedly tendentious rendering of reality is how some on the right are interpreting Who Really Cares? by Arthur Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University. Brooks doesn’t really deal with what makes one person “better” or “worse” than any other. But it’s fair to say that how much a person gives — of either his money or time — is usually considered an...

LACONIA -- The rising costs of delivering healthcare combined with the transformation taking place in the structure of employee benefit programs are driving changes in the way LRGHealthcare bills for the services provided by Franklin Regional and Lakes Region General Hospital, the Laconia Clinic, and other providers affiliated with the local, non-profit charitable trust. “We’re seeing a continuing evolution in the programs we offer to assist people with the costs of care,” said Henry Lipman, LRGHealthcare Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “What’s important is that people have access to the care they need, and that they’re treated fairly when...

In case you missed it, the President signed the new Pension Protection Act on August 17th. Most of the 400 pages of the Act deal with the under funding of pensions. However, if you keep paging through to page 301, you will see a section titled: Modification of Recordkeeping Requirements for Certain Charitable Contributions. Yes, that has nothing to do with pensions but it does affect the charitable contributions that you deduct on your tax return. Do you drop some cash into the church basket every week? And keep a logbook of the amount given each week? Then at tax...

WASHINGTON, Sep. 1, 2006 – Americans can help the nation’s servicemembers by helping Brittany and Robbie Bergquist and their organization, Cell Phones for Soldiers, win one of three $50,000 Volvo for Life Awards. Cell Phones for Soldiers recycles used cell phones, personal data assistants, iPods and ink printer cartridges, and uses the profits to buy prepaid calling cards for deployed servicemembers. The Bergquists have raised more than $1 million and have distributed more than 100,000 prepaid cards to date. “Winning the Volvo for Life Award would mean that more of our troops can be helped by our organization,” Brittany said...

Chest of Joash Campaign Evocative of 2 Kings 12:1-2, and 2 Chronicles 24: 1-11 The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches is this summer launching an international fundraising campaign – the Chest of Joash campaign -- to fund a planned expansion of global mission work. For instance, a number of Christian churches, in West Africa, and elsewhere around the world, have inquired about being received into the CEEC to join a rapidly growing branch of God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church . This is the first year of the annual giving campaign, and the fundraising goal is a “modest” $25,000,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2006 – The Defense Department raised a record-high $15.1 million in the 2005 Combined Federal Campaign, exceeding the department's goal by $2.3 million. DoD recognized its organizations for their fundraising efforts today at the Combined Federal Campaign awards ceremony in the Pentagon. "By all of these contributions, you have enabled the Department of Defense to maintain its distinction as the largest single charitable organization in the world," Michael B. Donley, director of administration and management for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said to the ceremony participants. DoD participation in the Combined Federal Campaign was 60...

"Charitable" Foundations: ATMs for the Left "Charitable" Foundations: ATMs for the Left By Ben Johnson FrontPageMagazine.com | March 2, 2004 One of the unlamented developments of this election year is the Democratic Party’s retreat to the Left. Although the media claim the party's voters have learned their lesson by settling for the “electable” John F. Kerry, a cursory examination of the Democrats shows they remain animated by anti-Bush furor. The party rank-and-file may have decided they prefer the sing-song cadences of John Kerry or the charming drawl of John Edwards to the red-faced shrieks of Howard Dean, but the message...

One of the major scandals in the field of charitable giving is the way in which a foundation set up to serve certain purposes has the money squandered by disloyal foundation executives on causes the original donors would have despised. Now there are indications that the Pew Charitable Trusts may be heading in this direction. The Trusts were derived from the fortune amassed by that crusty old Pennsylvanian, the late Joe Pew, and created by his children. Currently, the Charitable Trusts' assets total $4.1 billion, making the foundation one of the 10 largest in the country. Until recently, the Trusts...