A Church Is a Church—Or Is It? And Is It Tax-exempt? - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

A Church Is a Church—Or Is It? And Is It Tax-exempt? - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: The idea of whether or not certain organizations should have tax exemption, or should be able to receive contributions that are tax deductible to the donor, has been in the news quite a bit lately. There is a lot of dialogue, for example, around the NFL and why it is tax exempt. The 501(c)(4) classification as a whole has come under the microscope. In Valparaiso, Indiana, a new debate is swirling around Preachit, an organization that does not have to pay tax on its 32-acre property. In December, the local legislature had come to the decision that it needed to define what a church was.

Preachit is an organization whose website describes it as a membership organization providing resources “by ministers for ministers.

Opinion: Church-Related Social Ties Boost Giving by Faithful – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Opinion: Church-Related Social Ties Boost Giving by Faithful – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: The cohesive social connections that form within congregations, rather than faith itself or theological teachings, drive the higher rates at which religious people donate to charity, a political scientist asserts in a Time magazine opinion column.

David E. Campbell, a Notre Dame professor and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, says research for the book turned up no evidence linking belief per se with giving. Rather, he writes, “the ‘secret ingredient’ for charitable giving among religious Am

Rich Kinder, John Arnold among top Houston philanthropists this year - Houston Business Journal

Rich Kinder, John Arnold among top Houston philanthropists this year - Houston Business Journal: The forecast for the entire year is a total of $12.2 billion, an 8.8 percent increase over last year, reports Dallas-based Atlas of Giving.

Religious giving continues to lag as fewer people attend and join churches. Causes receiving the largest increases in donor funds include environmental, humanitarian, education and donor-advised funds.

Top Tips for Engaging Donors During #GivingTuesday

Top Tips for Engaging Donors During #GivingTuesday: A recent check of the organizations seeing the value of the national effort reflects only 10 religious nonprofits listed on the initiative’s website, and of those, only one appears to be Jewish (JChoice.org)! Clearly, there is an opportunity for the Jewish community to take on a much larger role within the #GivingTuesday movement, especially since it is coinciding with Chanukah this year.

To help Jewish nonprofits make the most of this event, we offer the following tips:

Jewish ‘next gen’ major donors want impact � Philanthropy North Carolina

Jewish ‘next gen’ major donors want impact � Philanthropy North Carolina: Despite research showing that new generations of Jews are less involved than previous generations in formal religious practice, Jewish “next gen” donors continue to fund Jewish organizations, and they identify religious and faith-based organization as the second most common area of their giving, a new report says.

Driving those donors in their giving are inherited values they often learn from their parents and grandparents, says the report, Next Gen Donors: The Future of Jewish Giving, from 21/61 and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy.

Donors Lose Thousands to IRS for Inadequate Receipt - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

Donors Lose Thousands to IRS for Inadequate Receipt - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: Unfortunately, the church didn’t follow all components of the four-part test for gift receipts, as detailed in IRS Publication 1771. For each gift to a charity over $250, the charity must document in writing a bank record or written communication, which must be contemporaneous. (This means that you must receive the written acknowledgement before you file your federal income tax return for the year of the contribution or prior to the due date—including extensions—of the return.) The written acknowledgement must state the amount donated, and it must also state whether goods or services were provided by the charity in return. If so, it must state their value, and if the donor received “intangible religious benefits,” the written acknowledgement must state this as well.

Clergy role tied to faith giving | Philanthropy North Carolina

Clergy role tied to faith giving | Philanthropy North Carolina: Congregations with clergy aware of their giving trends and with younger people attending were more likely to see positive fundraising results in the first half of 2011 and first half of 2012, a new study says.

Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog | The great donor exodus – and what to do about it

Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog | The great donor exodus – and what to do about it: Ever since the Urban Institute and the Association of Fundraising Professionals created the Fundraising Effectiveness Project a few years ago, I have been tracking the results religiously. They provide a near real-time scorecard on what is driving the bulk of charitable giving in our country. The headline of the results is this: Repeat donors matter most. But we are terrible at keeping them. The good news is we could double the fundraising results of most nonprofits by doing a better job keeping our donors. Just imagine what impact such an increase could have on virtually all charity missions!

Nothing ‘Quiet’ About Archdiocese’s Campaign - TheNonProfitTimes

Nothing ‘Quiet’ About Archdiocese’s Campaign - TheNonProfitTimes: he archdiocese tightened its belt by slashing expenses and forged ahead with a parish-based, $135-million capital campaign called “Changing Lives Together,” which ends next year.

“We launched the campaign because we had to. That’s the bottom line,” said William Blaul, the campaign’s communications coordinator.

Now nearing the halfway mark of the staggered campaign, Changing Lives Together has received $52 million in pledges from more than 36,000 households. The pledges are to be paid over three years. “Changing Lives Together is right on goal,” Blaul said. “Our fulfillment right now is right where we want it to be -- better than 90 percent.”

Connecting Asian – American Philanthropy and Community Needs

Connecting Asian – American Philanthropy and Community Needs: As the fastest growing demographic group in the United States, Asian Americans are today one of the leading forces in giving – not only to their countries of origin, but increasingly to their local U.S. communities and across the globe. Many believe that as more and more Asian Americans—a group with an enormously varied national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds—take leadership roles in business, politics, and civic life, they are also are changing the face of U.S. philanthropy, making it more inclusive, impactful, and accountable.

Scope of the Nonprofit Sector | Independent Sector

Scope of the Nonprofit Sector | Independent Sector: The American nonprofit and philanthropic community plays a crucial role in lives across the country and around the world.[1] In 2011, over 1.6 million tax-exempt organizations of all kinds (various 501(c) subsectors) were registered with the IRS.[2]

501(c)(3)s make up a majority of tax-exempt organizations, numbering close to 1.1 million organizations in 2011. This number includes public charities, private foundations, and religious organizations.

7 effective tactics for engaging faith groups - TheNonProfitTimes

7 effective tactics for engaging faith groups - TheNonProfitTimes: When it comes to reaching out to different types of donors, one marketing strategy doesn’t fit all. This is especially true with religious groups.

28 College Leaders Pledge 5 Percent of Earnings to Fight Poverty - Leadership & Governance - The Chronicle of Higher Education

28 College Leaders Pledge 5 Percent of Earnings to Fight Poverty - Leadership & Governance - The Chronicle of Higher Education: Today, 28 current and former college leaders will publicly come forward as charter members of the Presidents' Pledge Against Global Poverty. (The site is scheduled to go live at 8 a.m.) In so doing, they commit to join Reverend Svennungsen by donating 5 percent of their total compensation this year to charities that fight global poverty.

The list includes presidents from liberal-arts colleges, religiously affiliated institutions, and a few research universities.

Mormons and Civic Life - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Mormons and Civic Life - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: Ram Cnaan, a renowned researcher on faith-based social services, presented the findings of a new survey he and his colleagues conducted on Mormons’ church-based volunteering and charitable giving. Greg Smith, lead researcher on a recently released Pew Forum study on Mormons in America, discussed the Penn survey findings in the context of Mormons’ religious beliefs and social attitudes. The University of Notre Dame’s David Campbell, an expert on religion and civic engagement and co-author of “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” compared Mormons’ attitudes on volunteering and tithing to those of other religious groups.

Religion Gets Largest Share of Charity in US | Special English | Learning English

Religion Gets Largest Share of Charity in US | Special English | Learning English: Americans gave about two hundred ninety billion dollars to charity last year. That was ten billion dollars more than the amount of charitable giving in two thousand nine. The estimates are from the Giving USA Foundation and its research partner, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The Nonprofit Quarterly | @npquarterly | Charitable Giving to Religious Groups Outpacing Giving to Secular Charities

The Nonprofit Quarterly | @npquarterly | Charitable Giving to Religious Groups Outpacing Giving to Secular Charities: The ECFA report found that cash charitable giving to ECFA members rose from $8.87 billion in 2009 to $9.38 billion in 2010, a 5.8 percent increase during a time when charitable giving—in terms of cash giving—was supposed to have been relatively stagnant. ECFA’s religious constituency showed a pattern that we have described here at NPQ, that the bigger organizations fared better than the smaller ones: ECFA members with more than $10 million in annual revenues saw giving increase 6.7 percent compared to only 1.6 percent for organizations with less than $10 million. Similarly, last year’s ECFA report, comparing giving in 2009 to 2007, found the larger groups had a 1.4 percent increase in total revenue while the groups with less than $10 million in total revenues saw their cash and non-cash giving decline 6.9 percent.

$1.5M gift to help center study religious giving - 13 WTHR

$1.5M gift to help center study religious giving - 13 WTHR: INDIANAPOLIS - A $1.5 million donation will endow the directorship at the nation's only university-based institute dedicated to exploring the relationship between faith and philanthropy.

The Nonprofit Quarterly | @npquarterly | Gay-Rights Activists Lobby Companies to Cut Ties with Charitable-Giving Website Linked to Focus on the Family

The Nonprofit Quarterly | @npquarterly | Gay-Rights Activists Lobby Companies to Cut Ties with Charitable-Giving Website Linked to Focus on the Family: Gay-rights activists are calling on corporations to end their charitable-giving deals with the Charity Give Back Group (CGBG), according to a Denver Post report. Once known as the Christian Values Network, CGBG recruits online shoppers who can designate a percentage of their purchase totals to go to a list of specific charities, both secular and religious. One of the designated nonprofit recipients is Focus on the Family, which many gay-rights activists and others consider a hate group due to its attitude toward gays and lesbians.

Kickstarting Jewish Culture? | The Jewish Week

Kickstarting Jewish Culture? | The Jewish Week: alk about Jewish funding for culture seems to be getting louder, Kelman said, citing a 2010 panel discussion at the Association for Jewish Studies conference. Fordham University professor Ayala Fader is planning a book on the subject. Stephen Hazan Arnoff, executive director of the 14th Street Y, and Steven M. Cohen, research professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, published in JTA a call for a “Jewish cultural policy” after JDub shut down.

Of course, that conversation is part of a larger national debate about support for arts and culture, especially when the effects of recession linger and unemployment persists above 9 percent. Recently, Republicans cited the soft economy when they repeated their call to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts altogether.

One LA museum hosts an exhibition in the fine art of giving - The National

One LA museum hosts an exhibition in the fine art of giving - The National: In the end, it is not necessarily the thought that counts, but the price tag," Komaroff notes candidly in the exhibition catalogue.

Conceived so broadly, the process of gift-giving was crucial to diplomacy, civic and religious philanthropy, and to the international exchange of art and wealth. Gifts, then and now, are rarely acts of pure generosity, says Komaroff, who notes that the exchanges of objects (and cash) reflect relations of power and obligation.