Philanthropy Advice - Philanthropy Strategy for Donors - GiveSmart.org Getting real, lasting results from your philanthropic giving requires planning, strategy, realism and partnership. Whether you're new to philanthropy or farther along, Give Smart can help guide you in your philanthropic journey. How can you tell whether you’ve wrestled with a philanthropic question sufficiently to move on? Donors rely on peers for information, view evaluation negatively, and struggle to end established grantee relationships. What is the best way to research a nonprofit organization you’re considering funding? 10 Great Resources for Creating a Theory of Change Philanthropy411 BlogTools and guides for developing a theory of change that is "plausible, doable, testable, and meaningful."
Mission, History, Commitments Our History In the mid-1960s, President Johnson saw the need for independent nonpartisan analysis of the problems facing America's cities and their residents. The President created a blue-ribbon commission of civic leaders who recommended chartering a center to do that work. Our Commitments Use rigorous, state-of-the-art methods to analyze public policies and programs Bring sound objective evidence to public policy decisions Deepen public understanding of policy issues Save government and communities time and money through research on effective and efficient programs Work to make our Washington, D.C., metropolitan area a stronger community The Urban Institute is a member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
RentalTrax is an industry-leading web-based rental management software program (SaaS). It is a complete, "all in one" rental management program at a fixed low price. Nonprofit Advocacy “Arguably, the most important public policies we have in the United States have come from nonprofit organizations lobbying for their causes…. These achievements may be largely attributed to the strong leadership of executive directors and board members who knew that direct service alone would not change the flawed or missing public policies that contributed to the problems their organizations were trying to alleviate.” --David F. At its core, this portion of our website is about democracy. The Power of Nonprofits: A Proud Tradition of Serving Americans Advocacy is deeply-rooted in nonprofits’ DNA. The Power of Knowledge: Nonprofit Advocacy Is Legal, Needed, and Easy Despite our sector’s distinguished record as advocates for the people, recent research reveals that nonprofits today see multiple barriers blocking their participation in the public policy arena. The Power of Information: Nonprofit Advocacy Reference Materials
Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics BCD M&I | Managed Meeting Solutions, Conference Planning, Turnkey Registration Tools How to Read the IRS Form 990 & Find Out What it Means How to Read the IRS Form 990 & Find Out What it Means 2005 Form 990 Version Written by Peter Swords, former Executive Director of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, with the assistance of Victoria Bjorklund of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Jon Small, Executive Director of NPCC; supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation. May, 2011: A new version of this paper is available at www.npccny.org/new990/new990.htm. There is information in the Form 990 that you may find interesting and helpful for learning about the nonprofit organization that filed the Form 990. But you need to know where to find this information and how to interpret it. Of course, your particular interest in the organization whose Form 990 you are reviewing will influence what information you may consider significant. Immediately below we list the ten most important items we address along with where they can be found on the Form 990. #1 Identity and Tax Status – Heading, page 1 #10 Does the Filer Lobby?
Economic forecasts and data from Oxford Economics - Oxford Economics The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Implications for Nonprofit Organizations Nonprofit Due Diligence - Light-Touch Research Guide - GiveSmart.org Should you invest in a particular nonprofit organization? Helping you answer that question is the goal of this guide. We’ll help guide you through the process some call due diligence: learning enough about the results, leadership, financials, and operations of an organization to make the right investment decision, while respecting the limited time of its busy leaders. And as you learn about your potential grantees, we’ll help you collect information to answer the three most-important questions to making your decision: Does the organization’s mission align with your personal philanthropic goals? The best philanthropists take this learning process seriously—but also feel inspired and have fun along the way. Areas to research: The big four You have indicated that you are comfortable basing your funding decision on a lighter-touch approach to research. Strategy and results What is the organization’s mission and strategy? How effective are the organization’s programs? Leadership Financials
Working Paper Series Hauser Working Paper Series2000-2008 The Hauser Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000, and ran through the fall of 2008. The Series enabled the Hauser Institute to share important works-in-progress written by Hauser Institute scholars and researchers with a broad audience. 1. Globalization, NGOs and Multi-Sectoral Relations by L. David Brown, Sanjeev Khagram, Mark H. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. Hauser Working Paper Series Nos. 33.1-33.9 were prepared as background papers for the Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Symposium on October 3-4, 2006. 33.1 Holding Charities Accountable; Some Thoughts from an Ex-Regulator by Catharine Wells (October 2006) 33.2 Placing the Normative Logics of Accountability in Thick Perspective by Alnoor Ebrahim (October 2006) 33.3 A Framework for Analyzing Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Policies and Strategies by Mark H. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38.
Nonprofit Organizations - How Not to Lose Your Tax-Exempt Status Congratulations if you have jumped through all of the hoops to become a 501(c)(3) organization. But now you must be careful that your actions don't draw attention from the IRS or cause you to lose your exempt designation. Following are some of the activities that could cause your organization to lose its tax-exempt position: Private benefit/inurement A nonprofit differs from a for-profit organization in that it does not benefit the private interests of any individual or organization. Inurement goes a bit further in that it prohibits the nonprofit from allowing any of its income to be paid to, or property improperly sold (below fair market price), to insiders such as officers, directors, or employees. Lobbying An organization lobbies when it attempts to influence legislation. Political campaign activity 501(c)(3) organizations cannot endorse or oppose any candidate for public office. Activities that generate too much unrelated business income (UBI)
Nonprofit Groups Funneled Money For Abramoff Newly released documents in the Jack Abramoff investigation shed light on how the lobbyist secretly routed his clients' funds through tax-exempt organizations with the acquiescence of those in charge, including prominent conservative activist Grover Norquist. The federal probe has brought a string of bribery-related charges and plea deals. The possible misuse of tax-exempt groups is also receiving investigators' attention, sources familiar with the matter said. Among the organizations used by Abramoff was Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. A second group Norquist was involved with, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, received about $500,000 in Abramoff client funds; the council's president has told Senate investigators that Abramoff often asked her to lobby a senior Interior Department official on his behalf. Norquist has long been an architect of tax-cutting policies and political strategies that have boosted the Republican Party.
Tate & Tryon's Form 990 Forum: New 990 Design Makes Public Research a Reality One of the more interesting objectives of the new Form 990 Redesign is the IRS goal to make financial and program services information more readily available both internally and to other public researchers. The changes in the Program Services section of the core form and the addition of the new Activity Codes should make accessibility to this information a reality. These new Activity codes are not to be confused with the current Exclusion Codes found in the Analysis of Income Producing Activities section. In fact, the Exclusion codes will not be part of the new design. The Activity codes will not be required for the first returns filed on the new 990 forms, to allow the IRS more time to determine which code system will be the most effective. The most likely system is an abbreviated version of the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities. We won't know which set of codes will be the basis for the new Activity Codes until the final version of the forms and instructions are released. Subrina