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Another word on the IRS “scandal” from me over at the Tribune’s blog aggregation site.
Posts Tagged ‘not for profit’
January 26th, 2013
This is the smartest, ballsiest response I’ve seen to the omnipresent nonsense about how what’s wrong with philanthropy and charity is that they’re too soft-hearted and how all the problems of the world could be solved if they were just more rigorous and did their “due diligence” and brought other failed concepts and consultant buzzwords [...]
January 4th, 2013
Category: 501(c)(3), charity, Education policy, High-stakes school testing, NonProfits, Philanthropy, Public management, Secrecy in government
There’s an old joke about a man who asks a woman to sleep with him for $1 million. She agrees, whereupon he asks her to sleep with him for $1. “What kind of a girl do you think I am?” asks the woman indignantly. “We’ve settled that,” replies the man, “We’re just arguing about the [...]
October 9th, 2012
Here’s a new wrinkle in the ever-popular saga “Taxation of the Tax Exempt”: members of the Scranton City Council threaten to withhold zoning changes from owners of tax-exempt property unless they make “voluntary” PILOTS (Payments In Lieu Of Taxation). I’m certainly open to the notion that non-charitable tax-exempt organizations should have to pay property taxes, [...]
February 16th, 2012
Category: 2011 Democratic Agenda, Campaign 2012, Corruption in Washington, Democratic Party, Democrats in Congress, Elections 2010 and 2012, Feminism, Humor, NonProfits, Permanent campaign, Rhetoric and Framing, Women
Nancy Pelosi’s “attack” on Stephen Colbert and his Super PAC is the cleverest marketing the Democrats have done since the 1964 daisy ad linking the Republican Presidential nominee with nuclear war. Yes, it’s been a long dry spell; but let’s be grateful for this particular bit of rain. If nothing else it disproves the canard [...]
December 20th, 2011
The most powerful argument in this LA Times op-ed piece opposing the charitable tax deduction is that it’s a poor trade-off. Retired foundation executive Jack Shakely points out that charities have permitted themselves to be shorn of their ability to influence policy and politics in return for a mess of pottage. Of course the restrictions [...]
December 5th, 2011
Category: 501(c)(3), Arts and Cultural Policy, charity, NonProfits, Rhetoric and Framing, Uncategorized, Urban policy, Urbanism
(cross-post with nonprofiteer.net) Had a fascinating conversation recently with Margy Waller, a special advisor to Cincinnati’s ArtsWave, which leads the nation in evidence-based approaches to advocating for arts funding. Ms. Waller had reached out to correct my misunderstanding (and therefore misreporting) of ArtsWave’s efforts, noting that the argument is not that the public should fund [...]
November 8th, 2011
Category: 501(c)(3), charity, Income distribution, Moral philosophy, NonProfits, Philanthropy, Rhetoric and Framing, Uncategorized
. . . wrote Andy Rooney in this long-ago essay. This makes as much sense as anything else Andy Rooney ever said, which is to say, not much. What does it mean to “deserve” charity, beyond needing it? As George Bernard Shaw’s Alfred Doolittle memorably explained in Pygmalion, If theres anything going, and I put [...]
October 27th, 2011
Category: 501(c)(3), charity, Income distribution, Most interesting thing I learned today, NonProfits, Policy Analysis, Taxation
Kudos to my nonprofit consulting colleagues Campbell and Co. for sponsoring a study by the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy to determine the impact on giving of increased marginal tax rates and a cap the charitable-giving deduction. While some of us have been arguing that both of these moves toward social justice should be supported [...]
August 26th, 2011
Category: Arts and Cultural Policy, Built Environment, Health Care, Higher education, Illinois, Law Notes, NonProfits, Supreme Court, Taxation, Urban policy
When Harold Pollack wrote about the recent Illinois Department of Revenue decision to withdraw property tax exemptions from three hospitals, he naturally focused on the impact of the decision on health care. But those of us who work in other areas of the nonprofit sector are worried by the decision as well–or, if we aren’t, [...]