News

How Will the New Tax Law Affect Your Nonprofit, Your Employees, and the People You Serve? 12/17/10
Yesterday Congress passed the $857 billion tax package negotiated by President Obama and congressional Republicans. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation today. The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act (H.R. 4853) has numerous components of interest and concern to nonprofits – as employers and as mission-based organizations involved in local communities. This list from the National Council of Nonprofits presents portions of interest to most nonprofits, nonprofit employees, and the people they serve ...

CNCS Says the Social Innovation Fund Will Release Ratings 8/23/10

The Social Innovation Fund has agreed to release the ratings of its review panels, a move that will very likely help observers understand why some groups proceeded through the process to become grantees despite the fact that they received the lowest ratings from some panels. We believe this is a major step towards restoring attention to the substance, rather than to the process, of the SIF's work.

Nonprofit Fund Faces Questions About Conflicts and Selection Procedures 8/21/10
In late July, the Social Innovation Fund, a new $50 million federal program aimed at financing the replication of nonprofit programs that work, made its first grants. But what was supposed to have been an emblem of the administration’s commitment to nonprofit groups has become instead a messy controversy over potential conflicts of interest and the process used to select the grantees.

Citizens United: What Now?

Warning Wisconsin Could Lose Population Count Due to Snowbird Confusion in Census, Help Needed, Job Opportunities. Dec 16, 2009

... The results of the census are used to determine Congressional seats, legislative districts, and the distribution of over $400 billion in federal funds. Localities use census data to site hospitals and schools. Businesses use them to determine where to build new plants and site stores. “Wisconsin already ranks low in receiving federal dollars,” says Kaminski, “We don’t want an undercount to exacerbate that situation.”

FEC Opens Scrutiny of Nonprofit Rules
The Federal Election Commission announced that it is taking suggestions on how it should rewrite its regulations that limit how nonprofits can raise and spend money. The decision follows a court case ruling where Democratic abortion rights group EMILY’s List should be treated “like individual citizens,” and be “entitled to spend and raise unlimited money.”