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WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is caught in an election-year struggle between Democratic lawmakers pressing for a crackdown on nonprofit political groups and conservative organizations accusing the tax agency of conducting a politically charged witch hunt. In recent weeks, the I.R.S. has sent dozens of detailed questionnaires to Tea Party organizations applying for nonprofit tax status, demanding to know their political leanings and activities. The agency plans this year to press existing nonprofits like American Crossroads, on the Republican side, and Priorities USA, on the Democratic side, to justify their tax-protected status as “social welfare” organizations, a status that...

As Congressional Democrats scurry for cover in the wake of the growing scandal surrounding IRS harassment of tea party and conservative groups, President Obama announced on Wednesday that acting IRS chief, Steven T. Miller would resign. As with Benghazi and seemingly everything else these days, Obama claims to have known nothing about it. Too much time at the golf course no doubt. But the dam is bursting on this story. Every day the number of affected groups grows as more and more is uncovered. Today it was revealed for example that the decades-old Leadership Institute was audited in 2011. To...

A Capitol follower who happened to be at a hearing on HB 2318 in Salem had their interest piqued when they heard Democrats pushing Benefit Corporations, and dancing around the questions being asked. A 2011 article in left-leaning The Nation magazine described Benefit Corporations as having “the purpose of making a ‘positive impact on society and the environment,’” “Benefit Corporations can’t be held liable by courts for failing to place profits over everything else. This is an important shift in law.”

Organizing for Action, the non-profit iteration of Barack Obama´s campaign organization, decorated its first big email blast with the well-known campaign logo of Obama for America. Jim Messina, the chairman of Organizing for Action, purportedly authored the email sent Tuesday, featuring the subject line "I need to know: Are you ready to get this done?" Messina was referring to the President´s new immigration legislation proposals, which he promoted at a campaign-style event in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday. The language of the email is similar to emails sent by Obama for America during the 2012 presidential campaign:

First Lady Michelle Obama posted this new video that details the relaunch of President Barack Obama's campaign organization, Obama for America. The new organization is called, "Organizing For Action." Calling it the "next phase of our movement for change," the First Lady says that it will aim to train the next generation of grassroots organizers and leaders, and organize around local issues in American communities.

In an unprecedented move, President Barack Obama’s vaunted political organization is being turned into a nonprofit group—funded in part by corporate money—to mobilize support behind the president’s second-term agenda. Democratic officials familiar with the plan said Thursday the tax-exempt organization will be called Organizing for Action and seek to harness the energy of the president’s re-election campaign for future legislative fights. Officials said the group will be separate from the Democratic National Committee and advocate on key policy issues such as gun control and immigration, train future leaders and devote attention to local issues around the nation. … Coming just...

HELENA, Mont. - "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson will remain the face of the charity the Minnesota native co-founded, despite his having to repay $1 million after an investigative report released Thursday concluded he mismanaged the organization and misspent its money. Central Asia Institute Interim Executive Director Anne Beyersdorfer said Mortenson will continue to draw a salary from the charity. But it won't be as executive director and he is barred from being a voting member of the board of directors as long as he is still employed by the organization.

The Patriot-News reported the US attorney requested info on Sandusky and his charity, "The Second Mile." A grand jury has alleged the former assistant coach molested 10 boys, most of whom he met through "The Second Mile" n/p charity. It is not known if the subpoena is directly related to the ongoing case, or part of an unspecified investigation. "The Second Mile" received a request for info WRT Sandusky's travel records days after he was arrested. The subpoena also wants info about ex- Penn State president Graham Spanier, and two ex-school officials, who have been charged with perjury and failure...

Congressional Republicans are now interested in examining Media Matters For America‘s tax-exempt status, The Daily Caller has learned. Doing so would cause the GOP to wade into the complex world of tax laws that govern “exempt organizations” such as Media Matters and more than 1 million other charitable organizations that are exempt from federal income tax. Media Matters’ critics have questioned its tax-exempt status for some time. The Internal Revenue Service has a series of requirements that must be met before organizations can qualify. Successful applicants pay no federal income tax because the government presumes such charities perform services that...

An internal Media Matters For America memo obtained by The Daily Caller reveals that the left-wing media watchdog group employs an “opposition research team” to target its political enemies. Included in the list of targets are right-leaning websites, conservative think tanks, prominent financiers and donors, and more than a dozen specific Fox News Channel and News Corporation employees. “We will conduct extensive public records searches and compile opposition books on individuals,” declares the memo, likely written in late 2009. Investigations, it says, “will focus on the backgrounds, connections, operations and political and financial activities of the individuals.” One of those...

SEIU Healthcare 775NW is hiring a Lead internal organizer to lead a team of eight organizers who are focused on leadership development, the “Leaders In Action” field team, working with public and private sector home care workers. This team develops leaders and builds networks to take action in a variety of campaigns.

Don't you dare criticize the world's most perfect celebrity — or his charitable schemes.Wow. I make a living taking on corrupt unions and incompetent politicians, but I’ve never experienced the kind of vitriol like what I’ve received criticizing U2 lead singer Bono for his tireless and tiring political activism.The article in question, originally published in the Baltimore Sun, prompted representatives from Bono’s non-profit ONE campaign to pester the Sun, challenging me (unsuccessfully) on the facts. Now Maryland Senator Ben Cardin (D) is attacking me for daring to challenge St. Bono and the efficacy of ONE. Cardin accuses me of spreading...

Admin moderator, if this is inappropriate please delete. Thanks! I've been helping a non-profit, the International Fire Relief Mission. We collect equipment in the US from fire departments and businesses and ship it overseas to fire departments that either don't have anything or are so poorly equipped, it's a wonder they can do anything. As an example until we shipped equipment to New Guinea, the firefighters responded barefoot wearing overalls. There's another non-profit that raises money for other non-profits and holds a yearly awards ceremony in which as much as $15,000 is awarded. We operate on about $10,000 a year....

Darling Daughter is interested in founding a non-profit and has asked her ever resourceful, infinitely wise and all knowing father for guidance. Help. Does anyone know of a good source for information, perhaps a textbook, guide or recipe for success? What are the practical considerations, workable models, things to avoid, tax and regulatory requirements, etc. Assume we're starting from a point of near total ignorance...

The Blue Cross Blue Shield board announced today it is suspending their salaries as the healthcare giant also reconsiders its non-profit status and cuts benefits to its current CEO after a week of public outcry over an $11 million severance paid to ex-president and CEO Cleve L. Killingsworth. The 18-member board of directors approved the severance for Killingsworth, who left the non-profit health insurer after it lost nearly $150 million in 2009. Blue Cross paid its directors more than $1.2 million last year, records show. The directors attend meetings and work on other affairs related to the $13 billion company....

Problems for The church of Scientology seem to be going from bad to worse according to a report in The New Yorker, After being under an FBI microscope for sometime, the church and some of it’s more prominent members are being investigated by the federal government for human trafficking and labor law violations. Tom Cruise became involved when David Miscavige the head of the church and close personal friend to mega movie star ordered workers to perform services for the church and Cruise. The workers would work tirelessly doing everything from some of the dirty grunt work to customizing buildings,...

Query re small non-profit orchestra. We have one 'contractor/employee' who earns about $1200/ year for setting up chairs and music stands during concert season. He insists on becoming an employee. Do we need to pay Workers' Comp on him as well? Anyone know how much that runs? California.

Charlie Rangel's nonprofit, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), controls hundreds of millions in taxpayer cash but defiantly refuses to explain its spending. The group's tax forms are incomplete, and it has yet to release its 2009 annual report. If any questions are asked, they are stonewalled. Questions were asked about its $2.7 million loan to the troubled Alianza Dominicana for its delayed multimillion dollar Triangle Building headquarters, UMEZ's lawyer said it was "an internal matter." The note was due October 9, 2010, but no one will say if the loan was paid on that UMEZ was working with the...

Afghan teenager whose mutilated face shocked the world unveils her new image. An Afghan teenager who was horribly mutilated by her husband under Taliban rule was all smiles as she unveiled her new prosthetic nose for the first time. Aisha, 19, shocked the world when she appeared on the cover of Time Magazine to lift the veil on the plight of many women in Afghanistan. Yesterday, she bravely faced the public wearing a prosthetic nose - one that gives her some idea of how she will look after having reconstructive surgery.

Last week, U. S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on for-profit institutions. The perceived problem? A government-sponsored report on post-secondary education found that “only 16 percent of community college students borrow money; 95 percent of [students at] the for-profits borrow money and they borrow money at a higher amount than they do at the community colleges.” To Sen. Harkin, this is a problem. He stated at the end of the hearing: “Students are taking on too much debt, defaults are too high and students are having too much...

On Gaylor's 80th birthday she sponsored a fundraising event to raise funds to kill more children in the womb. Those funds go mostly to poor women to assist them in taking the life of the children in their womb. There is no effort to offer counseling or any kind of abortion alternative. Erickson writes, "Gaylor used the occasion of her 80th birthday to hold a fundraising party for the fund at the Madison home of Dr. Dennis Christensen, an abortion provider who has since retired. Gaylor sent invitations far afield, including one to a well-to-do woman in California she'd never...

EXCERPT "I think they should but they won't. They intended exactly what they did. "They were looking for the result they got yesterday," she said of Fox. "I am just a pawn. I was just here. They are after a bigger thing, they would love to take us back to where we were many years ago. Back to where black people were looking down, not looking white folks in the face, not being able to compete for a job out there and not be a whole person."

CLAYTON, Mo. - Panera Bread Co. is asking customers at a new restaurant to pay what they want. The national bakery and restaurant chain launched a new nonprofit store here this week that has the same menu as its other 1,400 locations. But the prices are a little different — there aren't any. Customers are told to donate what they want for a meal, whether it's the full suggested price, a penny or $100.

How to Stop USPS Junk Mail By Shelly Schumacher, eHow Contributing Writer The average American receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. Not only does junk mail clog up our mailboxes, it also wreaks havoc on the environment. Nearly half of the junk mail received annually (44 percent) ends up in a landfill. In addition, nearly $320 million in local tax money is used to dispose of junk mail, and more than 100 million trees are used to create pulpwood for paper products. While the United States Postal Service does not have a one-stop method for reducing junk mail,...

<p>DES MOINES, Iowa – More than 200,000 small nonprofits across the nation are days away from losing their tax-exempt status because they haven't filed a new form with the Internal Revenue Service.</p> <p>Many of these groups already operate on razor-thin budgets and some worry an unexpected tax bill could force organizations to close.</p>

As many as 400,000 nonprofit organizations are weeks away from a doomsday. At midnight on May 15, an estimated one-fifth to one-quarter of some 1.6 million charities, trade associations and membership groups will lose their tax exemptions, thanks to a provision buried in a 2006 federal bill aimed at pension reform. “It’s going to be an unholy mess once these organizations realize what’s happened to them,” said Diana Aviv, president of the Independent Sector, a nonprofit trade group. The federal legislation passed in 2006 required all nonprofits to file tax forms the following year. Previously, only organizations with revenues of...

Among the most important sub-texts in the year-long national debate over Obamacare has been the massive support for the proposal by organized labor and the opposition of most of the business community. Erick Erickson, the dough-faced, take-no-prisoners proprietor of the Redstate.com blog and CNN's newest political analyst, offers an interesting tidbit of information that helps illuminate the Labor vs Business factor in the Obamacare debate. Seems the chief organized labor non-profit is the AFL-CIO's American Center for International Labor Solidarity, aka the Solidarity Center.

The community organization group will keep the same mission and many of the same staffers, but will not belong to the troubled national alliance. California ACORN has broken away from its embattled parent organization to form a new nonprofit group, a move that observers say might foreshadow other defections that would seriously undermine one of the nation's largest and most politically powerful community organizations.

According to the Grassley report, charities "are being used to raise monies which are then funneled to other charities or to other organizations for purposes other than what the donor may have intended. . . . Dollars raised for charitable [purposes] appear to be used for impermissible lobbing and political activity."

He is a kind of Society for th’ Prevention of Croolty to Money. If he finds a man misusin’ his money, he takes it away fr’m him an’ adopts it. —MR. DOOLEY Charity is said to be a virtue without compare, and yet we all know that it arouses suspicion—about the giver’s display of his generosity, the recipient’s dependency, some essential inequity that the gift only reinforces. Perhaps for this reason, Maimonides argued that the highest level of charity was not charity at all but rather helping the needy find the means by which to earn their own living. In...

Google drops idea to buy newspaper By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York and Chrystia Freeland in London Published: May 20 2009 22:00 | Last updated: May 20 2009 23:30 Google has considered buying a newspaper or using its charitable arm to support news businesses seeking non-profit status, but is now unlikely to pursue either option, Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive, told the Financial Times. His comments, in an interview with FT.com, will cool speculation that the deep-pocketed search engine operator might save franchises such as the New York Times that are struggling with debts and declining advertising revenue. Google...

Note: Includes a photo. Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 7:55 pm What Is the Social Innovation Fund? Last night the First Lady discussed the Social Innovation Fund at the Time 100 Most Influential People Awards; we asked Michele Jolin, Senior Advisor for Social Innovation for the Domestic Policy Council, to tell us about it: Yesterday, the President announced that he would ask Congress in the FY2010 budget to provide $50 million in seed capital for his Social Innovation Fund, fulfilling a campaign pledge. The Fund will identify...

Conservatives are big financiers of the spread of socialism by nonprofits. Bigger even than billionaire George Soros. There are tens of thousands of liberal nonprofits on the public dole. Conservatives tend to focus attention and even outrage on a few large and notorious taxpayer-funded nonprofits such as ACORN, Planned Parenthood and AARP. That focus, though, is too myopic. Liberals know how to use nonprofits to "change" America. With the daily bombardment against our free-market, constitutional senses by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid regime, we may be ignoring the nonprofit foundation of their comprehensive socialist agenda. And conservatives are helping to pay for it,...

The head of a Philadelphia nonprofit organization is facing charges he used more than $400,000 in state taxpayer funds intended to poor childern and elderly residents to finance a lavish lifestyle.

Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin has proposed legislation to allow newspapers to be classified as non-profit entities (technically a “Low Profit Limited Liability Corporation” or L3C). Non-profit status for newspapers has been the hot buzz in the trade press for the past several months and is supported

Yes: Their conflicts of interest mean they don’t deliver on credibility By GARY SNYDER The charitable sector is struggling to keep the public’s confidence because it lacks good governance, financial accountability, transparency and provisions against conflicts of interests. It mirrors the attributes —- greed, arrogance and outrageous corporate behavior —- assigned to the for-profit sector. Angel Food Ministries is an example. It joins the ever-growing list of nonprofits that feel their mission gives them reason not to subscribe to generally acceptable charitable guidelines. Their mission is not unique, but their practices are. Fat salaries, loans approved but not by an...

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...

Early last year, Alejandro Stephens' long tenure as president of one of California's biggest union locals came to an end after the labor organization he headed merged into a larger local. The Service Employees International Union sweetened Stephens' exit with severance payments and other compensation that totaled nearly $180,000, said union spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette. A condition was that Stephens give up the salary he was receiving from Los Angeles County, Ringuette said. Under an agreement between the union and the county, taxpayers covered the salary of the head of the union local. The separation deal has since become the focus...

It’s time to stop government funding and tax breaks for “Big Abortion.” That’s the message from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman, R.-Minn. Speaking at the Family Research Council Values Voter Summit on September 12, Bachman detailed how Planned Parenthood – a controversial non-profit “family planning” organization that reportedly performed 289,750 abortions in 2006 – has expanded significantly. She cited a June 23 Wall Street Journal article by Stephanie Simon that revealed 501(c)3 organization had a record $1 billion in annual revenue in a recent financial report. “I got a call from my husband one morning that said, ‘Michele, take a look...

CAIR Exposed: Part 1 As IAP Offshoot, CAIR Followed Pro-Hamas Agenda From the Start by Steven Emerson IPT News March 24, 2008FEATURE STORY   From the Hamas ties of its founders in 1994 to its solicitous stance toward accused terrorists today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has demonstrated that its actual mission is far removed from the civil rights advocacy it claims to pursue. Still standing as perhaps the clearest evidence of CAIR's insidious role, two key leaders of the group attended a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia called by Hamas members and supporters to devise a strategy for torpedoing...

Judge sides with CAIR against Michael Savage (Talk Radio) March 11, 2008 © 2008 WorldNetDaily Michael Savage A Clinton-appointed judge in California is siding with the Council on Islamic-American Relations in a lawsuit by radio talk-show host Michael Savage. Judge Susan Illston has issued a terse one-page ruling in the case in which she "granted" a defense motion for judgment on the pleadings with "leave to amend." Although it was released only today, it was dated Friday, apparently finalized shortly after she held a hearing on the issues at hand. It was posted on Michael Savage's website, under the headline...

CH-UH library postpones ‘anti-Israel’ documentary BY: DOUGLAS J. GUTH Senior Staff Reporter The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library has postponed a three-part series on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid concerns from Jewish residents that the program would be biased against

Americans worked a median of 52 hours last year without pay. They’re called volunteers. Many organizations can’t survive without unpaid labor, and many people are glad to provide it. Sadly, though, data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that both the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate — the percentage of the population that volunteers — declined in 2007 from 2006. Volunteering also had fallen in 2006 from 2005. About 60.8 million Americans, age 16 and up, volunteered in 2007, compared with a high of 65.3 million in 2005. The proportion of that population that...

When Mike Huckabee became lieutenant governor of Arkansas in 1993, he complained of being burdened by college tuition bills for his son, the expenses of two residences — one in Texarkana and the other in Little Rock — and the cost of commuting between the two. With an annual salary of $25,452, he said he was falling short in covering the bills. “It was costing me money to be lieutenant governor,” Mr. Huckabee recalled in a 1997 newspaper interview. To bridge the gap between his income and his expenses, Mr. Huckabee and a few close political advisers came up with...

Congressional committees, state attorneys general and now the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are placing nonprofit organizations under scrutiny and sending them scrambling for legal advice on sound governance practices. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 heightened awareness about governance at all kinds of organizations, from the public companies at which it was directed, to private firms and nonprofit groups. Subsequent scandals involving financial practices at nonprofits prompted government agencies increasingly to view such organizations with skepticism. A 2003 media expose of the Nature Conservancy's governance, executive compensation and land sale practices ... The finance committee also catalyzed change at the American...

Health advocates wrote to the governor, lobbied legislators and worked closely with the New Jersey League of Municipalities. And their efforts have paid off. Earlier this summer, a 7 percent state tax on gym memberships and health clubs was repealed by the state Legislature -- giving a sigh of relief to health clubs around the state. Rick Gorab, president and CEO of the Metropolitan YMCAs of the Oranges -- which has branches in Livingston, Maplewood, East Orange and Sussex County -- said 44 YMCAs banded together statewide to repeal the tax, which was passed last October. "We are a charitably-based...

The last time I looked at the salaries of NPR hosts and executives, as listed on the radio news outlet's IRS 990 forms, was back in November 2004. Sure, the compensation packages and salaries were very generous, and I'm not the least bit surprised the NPR folks have increased their pay. Although seeing rather enormous salaries and packages in the nonprofit news radio world gives me reason to consider how high the compensation must be at for-profit private radio news stations. Here are the figures from the latest IRS 990 form for National Public Radio, FY 2005, just for the...

ST. PAUL - Most nonprofits have to compete for state money, but Let's Go Fishing of Minnesota got its $325,000 grant directly from lawmakers who wrote the Willmar-based group into a big education bill. Also written into law were grants for Hunger Solutions, a statewide coalition of foodshelves, and the Living at Home/Block Nurse Program, which helps seniors get support services and health care to stay in their homes. Legislative Auditor James Nobles said Friday it's time for lawmakers to quit hand-picking which groups get state grants.

Federal authorities have subpoenaed bank records from a Chevy Chase nonprofit group over questions about its financial reporting for work performed for NASA, including the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland has sought financial records from the Alliance for Competitive Technology as part of a federal probe into whether the group made false claims to NASA, court records show. The Justice Department and the attorney's office filed papers in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt June 30 on behalf of NASA's Office of Inspector General based at Goddard. The papers say the nonprofit group refused...

Were The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation a public company, it would rank among the entire world's 400 largest by asset size--before getting a single dime of Warren Buffett's promised money. But the $35 billion of assets listed on the foundation's latest financial statement, as of Dec. 31, is only one measure of its gargantuan magnitude. An active, aggressive player in financial markets, the foundation turns over the equivalent of its entire asset base on average about every two months. During 2005, the cash-flow statement shows, it purchased a staggering $250.7 billion of investments while selling $251.2 billion. Turnover at...