Earlier today, I had the honor of testifying at the first hearing of the Select Committee on the Non-Profit Sector. Here is my draft written testimony (some of which I omitted from my verbal testimony in the interest of time): Good afternoon Madame Chair and Members of the Select Committee....
Our friends at TechSoup | NGOsource are presenting a live webinar exploring equivalency determination, its role in international giving, and NGOsource’s unique approach to this process on Tuesday, May 23, from 11 a.m. -12 p.m. Pacific time (2-3 p.m. Eastern). According to NGOsource, an equivalency determination is: a process by which a U.S. grantmaker...
A nonprofit organization organized and operated for charitable purposes may be exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code while a nonprofit organized and operated for social welfare purposes may be exempt under Section 501(c)(4) of the Code. We are often asked about the difference between the terms “charitable”...
The ABCs of Nonprofits, now in its second edition, is an excellent resource for nonprofits, their leaders, and their advisors on many of the legal issues affecting nonprofits. Author and highly respected nonprofit organizations attorney Lisa Runquist has just made this valuable book available in Spanish. Here’s what Lisa...
On February 22, 2017, the IRS announced that publicly available information from approved Form 1023-EZ tax-exemption applications is now available electronically for the first time. The data on IRS.gov is available in spreadsheet format and includes information for approved applications beginning in mid-2014, when the 1023-EZ form was introduced, through 2016. The...
Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983), is a landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court held that the IRS had the authority to revoke the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University (BJU) based on the university’s racially discriminatory practices that were contrary to public policy. According to...
Would you like charities, including mosques, temples, synagogues, churches and other houses of worship, to be able to give your donations to politicians running for office? Would you like mosques, temples, synagogues, churches and other houses of worship (that are automatically tax-exempt and not required to disclose their financials or their donors)...
501(c)(3) organizations have numerous tools at their disposal for achieving their charitable purposes, and also have the distinct advantage of being able to receive contributions that are generally tax-deductible for donors. However, in exchange for tax-exemption and the ability to receive deductible charitable contributions, the law places some limitations...
The 20th annual Western Conference on Tax-Exempt Organizations (WCTEO) will take place at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles this Thursday and Friday, December 1-2, 2016. The WCTEO has been my top go-to conference every year since starting NEO Law Group, and I’m particularly excited about this year, my...
An environmental purpose is not one of the seven exempt purposes specified in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). However, many environmental organizations qualify for exemption under 501(c)(3) because their activities further charitable, educational, and/or scientific purposes. Although there is no explicit mention of environmental purposes...