Tag Archive for 'government'

The Nonprofit Version of Y2K?

Joe Brown ▪ May 14, 2010 ▪ 2 Comments

Do you remember Friday, December 31st, 1999? I do. I remember rushing to backup all of my business and personal data to CD-ROMs. I remember wondering just how fast and how far the market for COBOL programmers was going to fall. I remember losing count of how many times I heard Prince‘s 1999. I remember staying in that night to watch CNN, wondering if the anticipated global computer meltdown was going to occur (and feeling, I admit, just a bit of a letdown when it didn’t).

Over ten years later, heading into this mid-Spring weekend, I find myself experiencing a bit of déjà vu. If you are at all involved in the nonprofit world, you probably know by now that this Monday, May 17th, marks a significant deadline for nonprofit organizations nationwide. Under the provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, any organization that has not filed its annual tax form with the IRS for at least one of the past three years by that date will lose its tax-exempt status. The 2006 law actually only changes the game for organizations with annual revenue below $25,000, which have for decades been exempt from filing requirements. For larger organizations, the filing requirement has not changed.

How hard could it be?

If no action is taken, more than 365,000 nonprofits will lose their tax exemption — along with their ability to accept tax-deductible donations and receive foundation grants. But if this fate befalls an organization, it means that at least one of the following statements are true of its leaders:
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Come Together? Right Now? A Discussion of Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

Joe Brown ▪ May 12, 2010 ▪ 0 Comments

On Monday, I had the opportunity to attend a highly informative and engaging forum which brought together government and nonprofit representatives to discuss the topic of strategic alliances and partnerships among nonprofit organizations. While the discussion focused on New York State’s nonprofit sector, the challenges, considerations, and ideas discussed are applicable to organizations nationwide. In the absence of a video or audio recording of the session, I wanted to share this detailed recap and my impressions of the session.
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Yea or Nay? Government’s Role in Nonprofit Compensation

Joe Brown ▪ March 22, 2010 ▪ 8 Comments

Without setting out to do so, I ended up writing a lot about nonprofit executive compensation last week. Even less intentionally, I wound up with three posts sewn together by a common thread.

My first post of the week, “Are Your Executive Compensation Bases Covered?“, on the Mission Connected blog, encouraged organizations to take a look at their executive pay policies and practices, with an eye towards IRS compliance.
Then my curiosity was aroused when I learned of proposed Canadian legislation that would require reporting of and place a cap on the compensation of charity executives in that country, and so out popped “USA vs. Canada…No Hockey Involved!“
In the meantime, the story of Senator Grassley’s inquiry into an organization’s executive compensation and other financial practices led to a fairly impassioned debate in the nonprofit community, and my analytic bent led me to “Executive Compensation at Boys & Girls Clubs of America: A Closer Look “.

I have every intention of moving on to other topics in nonprofit human resources and organization management — and of writing posts with shorter titles. But before I do, I wanted to ask you — my nonprofit sector colleagues in the US, Canada, and beyond — for your opinion about the common thread in these posts:

What role, if any, do you feel governments should have in monitoring, regulating, or otherwise being involved in the compensation paid to executives and employees of nonprofits and charities?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo credit: takomabibelot

Canada vs. USA…No Hockey Involved!

Joe Brown ▪ March 17, 2010 ▪ 7 Comments

Nonprofit executive compensation gets a lot of attention in the United States these days, as I wrote in my post yesterday on the Mission Connected blog (“Are Your Executive Compensation Bases Covered?“). Over the past week, the topic has gained prominence in both the US Senate and the mainstream press, as Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and three other Republican senators have raised questions about the compensation provided by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to the organization’s president. That controversy has struck an emotional chord on both sides of the issue, including a scathing response by author Dan Pallota.

In this context, I found it notable to learn this week that the issue of nonprofit executive compensation has also attracted attention at the federal level in Canada. Specifically, as Jane Taber reports in her Ottawa Notebook blog, a Liberal Member of Parliament from Ontario has introduced a “charity transparency bill”. Under the legislation proposed by MP Albina Guarnieri, all registered Canadian charities would be required to publicly disclose the salaries of the organization’s five highest-paid employees. Further, the annual salary of all executives would be capped at $250,000.
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