Given the current situation in Syria, many of our members are curious to know more about Syrian and Syrian-related organizations. We’ve been listening and are thrilled to announce our partnership with Zakat Foundation of America (ZF), international relief and development organization, NGOsource member, and foremost expert on charitable giving in the Muslim world.
The IRS is alerting international taxpayers and non-resident aliens in the U.S. to a criminal tax scam that seeks to obtain personal information from individuals through a phony version of the Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting. The IRS warns: “The Form W-8BEN is a legitimate U.S.
NGOsource, a project of TechSoup and the Council on Foundations, was created for the sector, by the sector, and is committed to continuing to evolve to meet the ever-changing landscape of international philanthropy.
Expenditure responsibility, or ER, describes a set of monitoring and oversight procedures that a U.S. private foundation or donor advised fund (DAF) must follow when making grants to organizations that are not 501(c)(3) public charities or their foreign equivalents. The purpose of ER is to ensure that the grantor's funds are used exclusively for charitable purposes.
In an era when newspapers are filled with headlines about crackdowns on civil society, UK Citizens Online Democracy is working aggressively to open up and strengthen these spaces. Since 2003, the organization has run mySociety, a project that builds democratic and civic websites and apps in order to empower people to change their communities.
In a previous post, we introduced the concept of "nonprofit vs. charitable" under U.S. tax law. In this post, we will further expand on the definition of charitable, and will specifically focus on income-generating activities — a common source of confusion with respect to charitable activities.
A donor advised fund (DAF) is a separate fund or account held and controlled by a 501(c)(3) public charity. The donor or a designee of the donor has advisory privileges over the use of the funds.
The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) defines a DAF as
Participants at the International AIDS Conference that took place in Durban, South Africa, July 2016. Thanks to their organizations and the massive participation of civil society organizations, policymakers, scientists, and governments, the conference was a great success. (Image: Tomas Chang Pico/ Hivos)
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As previously posted on our blog, the IRS recently issued Notice 2017-73, a “Request for Comments on Application of Excise Taxes With Respect to Donor Advised Funds in Certain Situations.” The IRS Notice primarily summarizes three new regulations that the IRS is proposing to introduce regarding the operation of DAFs by 501(c)(3) sponsoring organizations.
Twenty-six years ago, five women in Mexico identified reproductive rights as a public health and social justice problem that needed to be addressed through bioethical, social, and legal advocacy. So they decided to do something about it and founded the Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE). Since then, GIRE has grown into a leading reproductive rights organization with a staff of 40 specialists in different disciplines, all committed to the defense of women's human rights.