Nonprofit Knowledge Matters | Protecting the Charitable Giving Incentive

Protect the Charitable Giving Incentive

Using Our Outside Voices in the House … and in the Senate

Nonprofits are not used to raising our voices. We teach others to use their “indoor voices,” and we mediate disputes so others won’t yell in anger. We heal the wounded, silently. We feed the hungry, quietly. At times we play loud music and paint loud colors on canvases. But you get the picture: we are not used to yelling.

Recently Tim Delaney, President and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, was in Georgia, Montana, and New York, encouraging nonprofits to raise their voices -- literally. In rooms filled with nonprofit leaders attending major conferences, he designated half the room the loud "Yes” crowd, and the other half the “Nos.” Tim then pointed to one side – “YES” came the refrain; then to the other side and louder “NOs” reverberated. After a few volleys, the friendly competition could be measured in deafening decibels. Tim then instructed the “Yes” side to remain silent – they weren’t allowed to use their voices. After a couple more volleys of loud “NOs” that were met with silence, Tim noted what policymakers hear: silence from the majority who are too busy and too unsure, versus resounding and unmatched “NOs” from the vocal opposition. Each time the “No!” voices boomed against the silence, members of the audience grasped the danger of remaining silent.

Silence is the nonprofit sector’s worst enemy. If nonprofits don’t raise our voices, we are powerless. Right now, it’s urgent that all nonprofits speak up.

The charitable giving incentive is at risk.
Congress is considering, on a tight timeline, how to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. Slashing the deficit by that much guarantees that every option to save money will be on the table, without much thought as to the consequences – unless the downside is abundantly clear. The National Council – and so far, more than 20 other national organizations and 2,800 community-based nonprofits across America – think it is abundantly clear that if the Supercommittee recommends elimination of the charitable giving incentive, then individuals and communities served by nonprofits will suffer.

Raise your voice now!
Sign on to the Nonprofit Community Letter to protect the charitable giving incentive.
See which nonprofits in your state have already signed on.
Learn more about the charitable giving incentive.
Spread the word! Tweet: 
The #charitable giving incentive that supports #nonprofits is at risk! Take action now to protect it. bit.ly/olnPHp (via @NatlCouncilNPs)
or
#Nonprofits, tell the #supercommittee not to change the #charitable #giving incentive http://bit.ly/rZcH5q #takeaction (via @NatlCouncilNPs)
Advocacy by nonprofits is legal – and needed.
Join your State Association to keep informed about capacity building and policy issues that impact all nonprofits.

October 25th Board Responsibilities: How Boards Add Value

The nonprofit board’s job is to ensure that the organization sets appropriate, forward-facing goals consistent with its mission. Boards help an organization develop the capacity to meet these goals, make policy decisions, and work to successfully translate these decisions into practice and results. What must a board know and do in order to fulfill its responsibilities?

Due to limited space, this session is open to executive directors and board members of nonprofit organizations. Ideally, executive directors and board chairs would attend together.


Featuring:

Gwen Webber-McLeod and Carol Love

Gwen Inc. Leadership Development Consulting


October 25, 2011
9:00 am to 12:00 noon

Cost: $30 per person

Central New York Philanthropy Center
431 East Fayette Street
Syracuse, NY 13202


You will learn about:

general board development
legal and fiscal responsibilities of boards
the board’s role in planning for the future
the relationship between the board and the CEO/ED
the board's role as an advisor and ambassador
strategies for developing and monitoring key result areas

Register Here

CNY Community Foundation Received 4-Star Rating

Syracuse, NY (October 17, 2011) – The Central New York Community Foundation received a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency. Charity Navigator is one of America’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluators of charities.

Charity Navigator helps charitable givers make sound decisions by providing information on over five thousand charities and evaluating the financial health of each of the charities. The goal is to provide donors with essential information needed to give them greater confidence in the charitable choices they make.

Charity Navigator uses financial information to analyze an organization’s performance in seven categories including organizational efficiency, organizational capacity, and overall financial health. The scores are than compared among organizations to assign a rating of one to four stars. Four stars, the highest rating, is defined as “Exceptional…Exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in its Cause.” Approximately one quarter of the charities that are evaluated receive a 4-star rating.

To find out more about the Community Foundation’s rating, visit:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5032

The Central New York Community Foundation has served Central New York for over 80 years, receiving, managing and distributing charitable funds for the benefit of nonprofit organizations. Grants are awarded for programs in the areas of human services, arts and culture, education, environment, health, economic development and civic affairs. The region’s largest endowed philanthropic foundation, the Central New York Community Foundation awards more than $5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations annually. The Community Foundation, of 431 East Fayette Street, Syracuse, NY 13202, can be reached at (315) 422-9538 or www.cnycf.org.

New NLRB Poster Requirement - new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012.

New NLRB Poster Requirement : new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012.

Below is information about the new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) required poster describing employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by more than two months. The new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012.
The Board’s jurisdiction extends to most small business owners. However, some very small employers whose annual volume of business is not large enough to have more than a slight effect on interstate commerce are exempted. In the case of retail businesses, including home construction, the Board’s jurisdiction covers any employer with a gross annual volume of business of $500,000 or more. The Board’s non-retail jurisdictional standard applies to most other employers. It is based on the amount of goods sold or services provided by the employer out of state (called “outflow”) or goods or services purchased by the employer from out of state (called “inflow”), even indirectly. Under this standard, the Board will take jurisdiction over an employer with an annual inflow or outflow of at least $50,000. See “Frequently Asked Question” Link below for more details about the Board’s jurisdiction standards.
A workplace poster that describes employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act is now available for free download from the NLRB website at www.nlrb.gov/poster
Private-sector employers within the NLRB’s jurisdiction will be required to display the poster where other workplace notices are posted. The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by more than two months in order to allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those who operate small and medium sized businesses. The new effective date of the rule is Jan. 31, 2012. The decision to extend the rollout period followed queries from businesses and trade organizations indicating uncertainty about which businesses fall under the Board’s jurisdiction, and was made in the interest of ensuring broad voluntary compliance. No other changes in the rule, or in the form or content of the notice, will be made. Employers who customarily post personnel rules or policies on an internet or intranet site must also provide a link to the rights poster from those sites. In addition, copies of the Notice will soon be available without charge from any NLRB regional office.
For further information about the posting, including a detailed discussion of which employers are covered by the NLRA, and what to do if a substantial share of the workplace speaks a language other than English, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. . For questions that do not appear on the list, or to arrange for an NLRB presentation on the rule, please contact the agency at questions@nlrb.gov or 866-667-NLRB.

Voluntary Compliance Program announced by IRS to address worker misclassification

Information for your members: You may have seen that in late September the IRS announced a voluntary compliance program for employers (including nonprofit employers) to enable those who have mistakenly classified workers as independent contractors to make a correction, along with a modest payment, and avoid the usual penalties of noncompliance. This program’s announcement offers an opportunity to remind nonprofits about the risk of misclassification and share information with them about the voluntary compliance program. See the National Council’s website materials on this topic.

Here is the text of the IRS announcement about the voluntary compliance program (from the IRS’s EO Update circulated on October 4):

“The IRS has launched a new program that will enable many employers, including tax-exempt employers, to resolve past worker classification issues and come back into compliance by making a minimal payment covering past payroll tax obligations rather than waiting for an IRS audit. To be eligible for the new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program an applicant must:

Consistently have treated the workers as nonemployees in the past

Filed all required Forms 1099 for the workers for the previous three years

Not currently be under audit by the IRS, Department of Labor or a state agency concerning the classification of these workers.

Full details, including FAQs, will be available on the Employment Tax Pages of IRS.gov and in Announcement 2011-64.”