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Archive for the 'Nonprofit' Category

Law for Change – Nonprofit Legal

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Law for Change is a new website of legal resources that bills itself as “The Legal Forum for Social Innovation.”
(From the site)  “This site combines in one place a broad menu of legal information prepared by leading law firms and lawyers specifically tailored to the needs of social entrepreneurs and innovators, social enterprises, [...]

IRS Tax Exempt Revocation Letter

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Follow up to an earlier post — One of my clients just received one of the first “File or be Revoked” letters from the IRS.  I’ve attached a copy, you can see what it looks like.
05-24-10 IRS 990 Notice
Note that for this particular nonprofit, the year end in question was September, 2008, so they are [...]

HELP! I’m a nonprofit and I didn’t file my IRS 990!

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

The IRS blitzed the media in the past week about getting the 990 (particularly the on-line 990N) filed by the May 17 deadline.  Dire consequences of losing your §501(c)(3) status have been promised.
The IRS 990N website was clogged for the few days before, and the day of, the deadline.  If you couldn’t get online during [...]

Charitable Deductions 101

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Every year, my clients ask what charitable deductions can be claimed on their tax return.  Sadly, I have some clients who meticulously track their charitable contributions, only to be told that they cannot itemize, so they have no benefit from their deductions.
What are the rules for charitable deductions?  The IRS has a nice “Ten Tips” [...]

Upcoming Workshops

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

If you would like to learn more about agriculture law or nonprofit governance, you can find me at workshops throughout the state of Indiana.  Check out the new page “upcoming workshops” at right for more information.  When available, links will be added with details and registration information.

Online Fund Raising in 2010 (for Nonprofits)

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

The Network for Good has a great article about trends affecting online fund raising in 2010.  With the economic continuing its sluggish movement toward recovery, nonprofits will need to aggressively pursue all available options to maintain their budgets – or, at the very least, minimize negative trends.
Check it out:
5 Trends That Will Affect Online Fund [...]

Copyright protection on the Internet

Monday, January 11th, 2010

It is so easy find and use text and images from the Internet.  People forget that someone created that content (whether prose or picture), and the person who creates it, owns it.
Lately, I’ve had inquiries about how folks can protect their creative works from being used (or abused) through the Internet.  While I’m not sure [...]

National Make a Difference Day

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Today is the observance of the 19th “Make A Difference” Day.  Sponsored by USA Weekend, this is one of several national and international opportunities and promotions to encourage volunteerism in your community.  Here are some links to check out:
USA Weekend Make a Difference Day
Volunteer Match
While USA Weekend touts October 24 as Make a Difference Day, [...]

New for Indiana nonprofits – tax ruling

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

The Indiana tax court ruled that landlords who rent to nonprofits may qualify for a tax exemption for their property taxes when they rent at a discount.  Interesting benefit to Indiana nonprofits, nice side effect for the landlord.
There is some concern that this may affect property tax revenues – will we see landlords rushing to [...]

Latest Nonprofit Trend: Micro-volunteering

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Check out this article about a San Francisco company that promotes “micro-volunteering.” Interesting concept – you can volunteer minutes of your time for a worthy cause.
I can think of several “down sides” to this new trend – the volunteer isn’t truly connected to the cause, the volunteer is given [...]

Nonprofit “Urban Legends”

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Blue Avocado is one my favorite nonprofit e-newsletters – it contains a lot of practical, “in-the-trenches” information for nonprofit organizations and the people who “live and work” there. Here’s a great article about “urban legends” regarding nonprofits:
Nonprofit Urban Legends