What We’re Reading, Week of 10/12

From Acronym…
What have your members taught you?
A great way to wind down week! This post from Acronym reminds us that we should not only look at what we can DO for association members, but what we can LEARN from them.

From AFP Blog…
New Video Series Helps Exempt Organizations Understand Redesigned Form 990 Requirements
AFP posted a link to a helpful video for exempt organizations that explains recent changes to the Form 990.

From NTEN…
Blog Action Day 2009 Climate Change: Technology in the Climate Movement
NTEN and 9,427 other blogs from 150 countries with 12,896,974 readers are smashing the debate  about what impact the online world has on offline action with these numbers and think about the over 12 million people around the world who are raising their consciousness about climate change. NTEN posts some highlights.

What We’re Reading, Week of 8/3 part 2

From AFP: Nonprofit Technology Blog…
Nonprofits use pilot site to post events, causes
Linking to an article from Democrat and Chronicle.com, the AFP blog calls attention to the use of pilot sites by nonprofits. According to the article, over 100 nonprofits are using the “Do Good” pilot site that connects readers with information about a variety of charitable causes. It allows users to post information about events, causes, and nonprofit jobs. Tools like “Do Good” can help drum up support and interest in nonprofit activities in an easy, cost-effective way.

From Beth’s Nonprofit Blog…
Crowded Roads Ahead for Charity 2.0: How to address scaling and cause fatigue?
As the use of the internet and social media continue to expand, it’s important to address the inevitable issue of media clutter. Beth’s Nonprofit Blog discusses the recent coverage given to nonprofit clutter, and offers some insights on how organizations can continue to raise funds and promote their causes in a crowded field.According to Beth, building a movement around a cause rather than a brand, and ensuring that social media initiatives are properly scaled, will allow nonprofits to succeed amidst competition.

From Frogloop…
Is Your Nonprofit Complying with State Charity Regulations?
This week, Allyson Kapinat Frogloop blogs about the regulations that accompany online nonprofit fundraising. If a nonprofit raises money on the internet, than it needs to ensure that it is in compliance with state laws. These regulations can be complicated: for example, as Allyson points out, a charity based in one state may have to register itself in other states if the residents there make donations. Nonprofits should be aware of these rules, and should stay up-to-date on compliance.

Madoff + non-profits = new regulations?

Our friend and guest columnist John C. McGee was kind enough to pen his opinions for us:

A few thoughts on the Madoff debacle – as I continue to listen to and read about the fallout from the Bernard Madoff collapse I am concerned about the long-term consequences of the event – those being enhanced regulatory oversight of the non-profit sector and its activities.

Obviously, the collapse of a $50 billion fund is devastating. With many foundations and personal fortunes lost the impact of the demise of the funds under Madoff’s direction has been immediate and will in some ways be long-lasting simply through the loss of those funds. Already as has been reported in many media sources that various foundations have closed and non-profit organizations have reduced services. These are immediate and truly troubling events in a global economy that can ill-afford the loss of services those organizations provided directly or funded.

These consequences have already happened and there is little we can do now about restoring those lost funds. Organizations and individuals will and can respond to the needs of affected organizations but the fundamental event has already happened and unfortunately cannot be undone.

It is the future fall-out that we need to be vigilant of. With the changing of administrations, attitudes towards regulatory oversight will change. It has already been suggested that part, if not a significant portion, of the Madoff debacle was a result of lax regulatory enforcement. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect more vigilant enforcement efforts and a revisiting of existing laws and procedures to make such an event more difficult in the future.

The non-profit sector needs to be aware that legislation directed at investment disclosures and transparency will potentially impact their policies, procedures, operations and relationships with donors.

Congress, I expect, will fast-track regulatory review of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and may very well expedite the reauthorization of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

It is not the practice of Congress to pass legislation entitled ‘non-profit regulatory oversight’, rather they are more likely to include such oversight in some omnibus regulatory renovation or reauthorization legislation.

In the last Congress, the Senate in SB2831 wanted to extend the authority of the FTC to include those organizations recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. I expect this effort along with additional controls placed on investment practices through changes in the SEC oversight responsibilities to be early on Congress’ agenda. I also expect that Congress will explore a variety of means to enhance regulatory oversight of segments of the economy not least of which will be the non-profit sector. Simply put I expect 2009 to be a very active year related to regulatory issues and it is incumbent upon us to be attentive to these efforts.

The chart below compares seven federal tax law attributes of five common types of tax-exempt organizations, which is useful for non-profit organizations.

Common IRS Tax Law Restrictions on Activities of Exempt Organizations

Write to John C. McGee and view his LinkedIn Profile here

Should donors be wary?

Today the Wall Street Journal offers a “guide for vetting charities.” As nonprofit governance is a topic we’ve grown quite interested in at i On Nonprofits, we’ve recently made the acquaintance of an expert on this subject, who will be sharing his insights on this and other news and nonprofit sector items going into the new year!

John McGee is an executive with 32 years of nonprofit management experience, specializing in issues of regulatory compliance and governance for nonprofits. With the ongoing debate about how nonprofits can (or indeed, should) be run froma  regulatory standpoint, we look forward to bringing you John’s ideas and advice in the coming weeks.