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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...

Mrs. Obama Announces New Fund to Aid NonprofitsBy RACHEL L. SWARNS Published: May 5, 2009 The first lady, Michelle Obama, ventured publicly into the policy realm on Tuesday, announcing that the Obama administration planned to create a $50 million “social innovation fund” to help finance and expand promising nonprofit agencies. The fund would offer financial support to nonprofit and community groups that focus on education, health care and economic mobility, among other issues, officials say. The administration plans to encourage foundations, philanthropists and corporations to help raise additional money for the program. “The idea of the fund is simple: find...

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,...

CHICAGO Newspapers perform a public service for democracy and should be allowed to operate as tax-exempt non-profits, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D.-Md., proposed Tuesday. Cardin introduced a bill that would explicitly include newspapers among organizations eligible for 501(c)(3) status. The non-profit status is the same that public radio and television have now. The legislation would give a national green light for newspapers to adopt the so-called Low Profit Limited Liability Company business model, often shortened to L3C. The L3C model, which the Newspaper Guild supports as an alternative newspaper ownership model, is the subject of a feature story in the...

An op-ed in the New York Times suggests turning the paper into a non-profit. Hey, the gurus of the Gray Lady have already accomplished that, thank you very much! But seriously–at least I think they were being serious–the authors, two Yale investment officials, propose transforming the Times and other struggling newspapers into “nonprofit, endowed institutions — like colleges and universities.” Great idea. Just like the rich sons of Eli turn up to root the football team to victory against Harvard–dropping the odd million into Yale’s endowment while they’re at it–so too will the Times’ benefactors head out to Central Park...

Independent Sector, a coalition of liberal charities and foundations, wants to cash in on Washington's bailout fever, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. “There’s simply not enough cash to respond to the amount of the needs,” said Diana Aviv, president of the group. “The demand is much greater and the dollars that are secured from traditional sources are shrinking.” Call it charity welfare. If you don't dig deeply enough into your pockets for charity, the government will force you to, or at least that's what Aviv wants.

Why would someone involved in keeping nonprofits ethical give the appearance of being involved in political partisanship? When Ricky Ricardo caught Lucy in some very compromising position he said she had some "‘splaining to do."That's how I feel about Diana Aviv, head of Independent Sector, an organization which assists almost 600 nonprofit organizations around the country and the world to establish and maintain appropriate ethical standards and practices of transparency.

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...

It's about time these people were investigated: Sen. Grassley probes "possible misuse of donations" to Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and others. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating several major church-based ministries known for their leaders' lavish lifestyles and prosperity teachings. "Recent articles and news reports regarding possible misuse of donations made to religious organizations have caused some concern for the Finance Committee," Grassley wrote to the ministries in letters asking for detailed financial records. None of the ministries targeted—those led by Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer, and...

What makes The Heritage Foundation one of the most famous and widely quoted nonprofit companies worldwide? Having a top-notch staff to promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense helps, no question. But as the new book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits shows, it’s more than that. Heritage succeeds because its leaders follow certain “high-impact” practices that have elevated the 34-year-old institution to the forefront of the nonprofit world. Figuring out what those high-impact practices are matters, because success in the nonprofit...

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...

FORT WORTH -- It has taken nearly a decade to build two houses in a southeast Fort Worth neighborhood where planners and community leaders envisioned more than 100 new homes to revitalize the area. And those two model homes may be all that neighbors see of the New Rolling Hills development. The nonprofit group Texas Housing and Economic Resources, which spearheaded development of affordable homes in the New Rolling Hills subdivision, has filed for bankruptcy, listing more than $2.8 million in debts that include $273,500 to the city of Fort Worth, $70,000 in delinquent property taxes and a $2 million...

The tool donors use to learn about nonprofits is getting a makeover.The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday released a newly redesigned Form 990 and asked for comments from the public and from nonprofits. The form is filed annually by more than a million nonprofits, including such prominent local institutions as Chapman University, Hoag Hospital and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. By law, nonprofits must make their last three years' 990s available to anyone who asks.Since its last remodel in 1979, Form 990 has been repeatedly tweaked, with many new line items squeezed in like new appliances in an old...

Sacramento -- Some of the same corporate interests that dominate the Capitol through high-priced lobbyists and campaign donations also bankroll nonprofit organizations that in turn spend tens of thousands of dollars a year entertaining state lawmakers and administration officials far from home -- gifts that otherwise would exceed state limits. Since 2002, the largesse has included a weekend at a fashionable beachfront golf resort south of Rio de Janeiro for 14 state officials, including Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, and the governor's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy. There was also a luncheon cruise on New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf for...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com How secular donors move church agenda By Eric Pfeiffer THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published January 11, 2007 The National Council of Churches is becoming financially beholden to secular groups with liberal political leanings, according to a report by a religious watchdog organization. The Institute on Religion and Democracy, a group formed by members of the NCC, says the group accepted the majority of its charitable donations last year from nonreligious organizations and has been pursuing an agenda that does not mesh with the majority of its church members, including support for abortion and homosexual "marriage." "We found...

The U.S. Senate is moving to curtail the influence of non-profit interest groups that routinely contact citizens and urge them to petition their congressmen or senators on issues of concern. The so-called Lieberman-Levin Amendment would impose "unconstitutional and unfair" restraints on non-profit grassroots lobbying activity, the Family Research Council warned. The amendment passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee by a 10-6 vote on Thursday, and it's heading for the Senate floor next week. Groups such as the Family Research Council say it targets the wrong people. "Folks have a right to petition their government, and it's unfortunate...

The I.R.S. said yesterday that it saw a sharp increase in prohibited political activity by charities and churches in the last election cycle, a trend that it aims to reverse as the country heads into the midterm elections. The tax agency found problems at three-quarters of the 82 organizations it examined after having received complaints about their political activities, according to a report the Internal Revenue Service released. The infractions included distributing materials that encouraged people to vote for particular candidates and giving cash to campaigns. The agency said it was seeking to revoke the exemptions of three organizations but...

- PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon's attorney general's office says an audit shows the president of Portland's Goodwill made an "unreasonable" amount of money in 2004. Michael Miller earned more than $830,000 in pay and benefits last year. This makes him the highest-paid executive at Oregon's social service nonprofits. The audit was obtained yesterday by a Portland newspaper. Miller also made more than executives at the other 172 Goodwill branches in North America. Goodwill's chairman of the board says Miller, who has been president of the charity for 20 years, has agreed to accept a 24 percent cut in his salary...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is benefiting from millions of dollars raised by a network of tax-exempt groups without revealing that the money comes from major corporations with business before his office. The groups are run by Schwarzenegger's closest political allies, who also represent some of California's biggest interest groups. Unlike the governor's many campaign funds, the nonprofits are not required to disclose their contributors and can accept unlimited amounts. One group controlled by a powerful corporate consultant pays the $6,000-a-month rent on a Sacramento hotel suite used by the governor, who is a multimillionaire. Others have funded media events...

WASHINGTON (AP) - After two years dissecting The Nature Conservancy, the Senate Finance Committee reported Tuesday that large charities may need stricter laws to prevent insider deals, regulate moneymaking ventures and open more activities to public scrutiny. Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said the panel's report, to be examined in a Wednesday hearing, shows The Nature Conservancy engaged in aggressive planning to maximize tax advantages. It acted no differently than many large corporations, and such planning is probably widespread among large charities, Grassley said. "Current law has not kept up with the sophistication and complexity of many of today's charities," the...