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I am very happy to report that I’m going to be attending the CraigsList Foundation Nonprofit Bootcamp in New York a week from today. I have heard amazing things about the resources and networking opportunities… more to come in the blog on this.

The ongoing saga of Sen. Grassley’s investigation into megachurches, including Kenneth Copeland Ministries, brought this response from KCM in a press release:

However, the Church respectfully disagrees with Senator Grassley’s position that churches are no different from any other tax-exempt organization. Any government inquiry into the affairs of a church raises serious constitutional issues that must be carefully balanced against the government’s need to evaluate the effectiveness of the laws of the land. To ensure its constitutional rights are not unnecessarily infringed upon, the Church firmly believes that it must be given the protections from disclosure afforded by the federal tax laws and the benefit of the processes and procedures that apply to inquires of churches made by the IRS.

When I have taught tax exempt law concepts in seminars and conferences, I have found that some in the secular charitable world find the unofficial distinctions and preferences often afforded to religious entities as unfair and unjust. I’m not sure I totally agree with that (there are a host of reasons why churches and religious institutions should be held to different standards than groups like Nature Conservency or even small community charities). I think it’s an interesting discussion however – what do you think? Should churches and religious institutions be treated differently by the IRS and tax law?

Update… today’s Des Moines Register… did Sen. Grassley lose his delegate spot at the GOP convention because he’s pursuing churches?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate, has noted an improvement in the Internal Revenue Service’s processing of exemption applications, but still sees room for improvement. As anyone who has applied for exemption recognition recently can attest, she’s absolutely right. The process needs to improve – ten years ago the process was measured in months (even weeks if you were lucky). Now, the length of your wait can last over a year under some circumstances…

Alliance for Justice has a nice summary of the latest on the IRS Political Activities Compliance Initiative:

On April 17, 2008, the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division issued a letter providing guidance on how they will treat certain activity in the 2008 political campaign season. The letter stated the goals of the Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) task force in the 2008 election season and provided limited guidance on PACI’s enforcement of 501(c)(3)s engaging in election-related activity in two specific areas: 501(c)(3)-501(c)(4) websites and issue advocacy.

See more here.

From the Chronicle of Philanthropy:

The new business entity is to be called a low-profit limited liability company, or L3C, and Vermont’s governor is expected to sign into law at the end of the month the bill creating the designation.

An L3C, a variation of a limited-liability company, would operate like a for-profit business generating at least modest profits, but its primary aim would be to offer significant social benefits, such providing jobs in an economically depressed area. Such business models already exist: The Vermont law would give them a name, and, its advocates hope, both encourage the creation of more socially conscious businesses and attract more money to them.

I’m really intrigued with this new model, having been working more closely with a socially responsible LLC that also has an affiliated sister 501(c)(3) charity, it seems this might be a new path. Often we see a lot of these corporate models beginning in a few states (the laboratories for laws) and see them sweeping across the country. This one bears watching.

Roll Call reports…

Tax regulators are hinting at an imminent crackdown of outside political outfits masquerading as nonprofit organizations, groups that already are making a splash in the 2008 Congressional primaries.

So, we might see some of the new 501(c)(4)s that were gearing up to engage in a lot of activity supporting or opposing candidates drop out before they begin… this might prompt some litigation depending on how the IRS chooses to enforce things. It’s still stinging from losing the DLC case recently, and I suspect the DLC’s success may prompt other 501(c)(4)s to fight it out in the courts with the IRS over anything in the exempt activity (loosely speaking, anything that supports or opposes a candidate) category.

Church Executive Magazine asks whether the IRS is amping up enforcement this year.

From the IRS:

The IRS is encouraging various partners and stakeholders such as charities, churches and governmental organizations to assist in efforts to reach out to those Americans who may be eligible for the 2008 economic stimulus payment but who normally have no requirement to file a tax return. People who receive certain Social Security, Veterans Affairs, Railroad Retirement or wages from earned income or combat pay may be eligible and not know it.

It’s good to see that the IRS is trying to make it easier for low-income individuals receive the allocated funds. Asking charities to aid in the process strikes me as a good idea to facilitate the effort… more about this program here.

If you’re in Atlanta, this looks like a great opportunity to learn about running an ethical organization:

Seminar Announcement

What: The Nonprofit Studies Program of the Andrew Young School of Policy at Georgia State University presents its Brown Bag Seminar Series in Nonprofit Research.

Who: John Knapp of The Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business will address the topic: “Fostering Ethical Cultures in Non-Profit Organizations”

When: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 12:30 PM

Where: Seminar Room #749 at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Building at 14 Marietta Street, NW

The purpose of these seminars is to discuss research-in-progress by faculty associated with the nonprofit program.

We invite students, faculty and interested members of the community to join us!

Drinks and cookies will be served.

All that and cookies too… I wish I could swing the trip down for this one! Hat tip to the good folks at the Nonprofit Law Profs blog for the original pointer.

The Wall Street Journal is the latest to report on the various issues related to churches and politicking… I was happy to see that it noted that there have only been two revocations since 1954. One of them (the more recent… 1992) was a church in Binghamton that took out full page ads telling readers to vote for Bob Dole. Good old Branch Ministries… I don’t know if they had any inkling how badly they violated tax law, but they didn’t jsut cross the line… they jumped over it!