Friday, September 7, 2012
Congress returned to work this week after a month-long recess and attention in Washington is focused on the party conventions and presidential campaigns with just two months left before the election.
The ACR newsletter is back from its August vacation too. To get you caught up on happenings around the sector, we’re highlighting the top headlines since our last edition. In our next issue, which will hit your inbox on September 21, we will resume our coverage of Congressional activity and “Consider This.”
The latest edition of the ACR newsletter is available below or online at www.acreform.com.
ACR Blog Roundup
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The ACR blog (www.acreform.com/blog) highlights our thoughts on news of the day. For regular blog updates, follow us @acrefom on Twitter.
Here is a roundup of the ACR blog since the last newsletter edition:
PILOTs and Their Possible Unintended Consequences
Sue Santa, Senior Vice President for Public Policy, The Philanthropy Roundtable, discusses a new paper published last week by the Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy and Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center that assesses current state and local efforts to identify revenue-raising measures to impose upon tax-exempt charitable organizations. She calls attention to the authors’ findings that state and local efforts, initially to identify revenue sources, have in some cases “evolved into a re-examination of the relationship between local government and the nonprofit organizations that serve their communities.”
The Sun is Setting on Atlantic Philanthropies
A New York Times profile of Charles Feeney, founder of Duty Free Shoppers, and the impending closure of the foundations he established provide an opportunity to revisit the topic of donor intent. As they prepare to “sunset”, Atlantic Philanthropies will distribute $1.5 billion over the next four years, which –as The Philanthropy Roundtable’s president Adam Meyerson explains in a Wall Street Journal
op-ed– can bring about effective impact and respect the donor’s wishes if done right.
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Upcoming Event
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The Philanthropy Roundtable's 2012 Annual Meeting
The American Spirit of Giving
October 11-12
The Breakers, Palm Beach, Florida
Register now for the conference.
The 2012 Annual Meeting of The Philanthropy Roundtable will offer principled, practical lessons on how donors can make the greatest impact. Come and engage. Come and learn. Come and share.
Keynote speakers include:
Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Arthur C. Brooks, president, American Enterprise Institute
Cesar Conde, president, Univision Networks
Mark Edwards, executive director, Opportunity Nation
Michael M. Kaiser, president, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Bernie Marcus, chairman, Marcus Foundation, and co-founder, Home Depot
Click here for the full agenda and speakers.
The Alliance for Charitable Reform will offer programming on public policy issues affecting the charitable sector. ACR sessions and speakers include:
“Taxmageddon:” Renegotiating the Relationship Between Government and the Charitable Sector?
Cleta Mitchell, partner, Foley and Lardner
Alexander Reid, of counsel, Morgan Lewis
Sandra G. Swirski, executive director, Alliance for Charitable Reform, and co-founder, Urban Swirski & Associates
William A. Schambra, senior fellow, Hudson Institute, and director, Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal (Moderator)
The Shifting Policy Landscape: What’s Ahead for Donors and Nonprofits?
Gloria Johnson-Cusack, executive director, Leadership 18
Cindy Lott, senior counsel, Nation State Attorneys General Program, Columbia Law School
Pat Read, Pat Read Consulting
Mason Rummel, president and treasurer, James Graham Brown Foundation (Moderator)
Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness: What are the Connections?
Rick Cohen, national correspondent, Nonprofit Quarterly
Sue Santa, senior vice president for public policy, The Philanthropy Roundtable
Andrew Schulz, executive vice president and national director of community and legal relations, Foundation Source
John E. Tyler III, vice president and corporate counsel, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (Moderator)
This event is for qualified participants only. Click here to review event qualifications.
For more information: http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/annual_meeting/
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Making Headlines
Tax Reform/Charitable Deduction
Charitable Deduction: In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, noted economist and Harvard professor Martin Feldstein challenges claims that Governor Romney’s plan to cut taxes and offset the resulting revenue loss by limiting tax breaks has been attacked as "mathematically impossible."
Philanthropy Daily reviews
a new book by Yale Professor Robert Shiller, Finance and the Good Society, and examines his proposals to alter tax laws and laws governing nonprofits to increase the incentives for charitable giving in the United States including maintaining the charitable deduction. Also see Charitable Deduction: “Clutter, A Loophole, or Vital to Society?” for a rundown of proposals to alter the charitable deduction and reactions from the charitable sector about the future of this incentive.
States/Local
Regulation: The NonProfit Times reports that some states are using regulatory means to impose measures on nonprofit organizations in the wake of unsuccessful legislative attempts.
Comings & Goings: Nonprofit Leadership
Stanford University: Stanford University named Paul Brest, former president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as faculty co-director of the university’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.
Social Innovation Fund: Paul Carttar, director of the Social Innovation Fund, will step down from the head post at the end of September. Idara Nickelson, chief investment officer for the Corporation for National and Community Service, will become the fund’s new director.
This Caught Our Eye…
Taxes vs. Philanthropy: Scholars and nonprofit experts from different viewpoints agree that the nonprofit sector must be vigilant in making clear the distinction between philanthropy and paying taxes.
Philanthropy & the Presidential Candidates: The Chronicle of Philanthropy has compiled profiles of the presidential candidates that examine their charitable giving, involvement with nonprofits and positions on issues affecting the charitable sector:
Disaster Philanthropy: In a New York Times op-ed, Professor Daniel P. Aldrich of Purdue University explains that neighborliness or “social capital” developed before catastrophe hits, not sophisticated technology, is the most important factor that helps communities recover from natural disasters. Also see: Social capital and philanthropy, Philanthropy Daily
Nonprofit Data Gathering: The Boston Globe reports that both private funders and government agencies are requiring nonprofits to illustrate tangible results before providing funding. But, some outcomes are more difficult to demonstrate, especially in areas like human rights, preventative health programs or other projects that aim for long term impact.
Community Foundations: The Foundation Center has released the new 2012 edition of “Key Facts for Community Foundations,” a snapshot of facts and figures based on 2010 and 2011 data.
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