We continue our series, in partnership with the Zakat Foundation of America (ZF), with an overview of the complexities of giving in Syria. ZF’s General Counsel, Lara Kalwinski, describes principal obstacles and frustrations for donors and grantees in sanctioned countries and conflict zones. She also offers insight on ways the sector can work together to overcome some of these obstacles.
At NGOsource, we value the importance of providing clarity on issues affecting civil society internationally. We are thus thrilled to announce our partnership with China-based ForNGO, a foremost expert on charity law in China, as well as a grantee that has undergone the equivalency determination process with NGOsource.
U.S. law has not always prohibited tax-exempt charities from engaging in political campaign activities. In 1954, Congress approved an amendment by then U.S. Senator Lyndon Johnson to prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations from engaging in political campaign activity. This amendment came to be known as "the Johnson Amendment," and it is now codified in the Internal Revenue Code and accompanying Treasury regulations.
La Conscience was one of the first NGOs to undergo the equivalency determination (ED) process with NGOsource in 2013 and was featured in our first ever impact story. The NGOsource team was recently lucky enough to get a chance to sit down with Kodjo Djissenou, La Conscience’s executive director and founder, and look back on La Conscience’s amazing work and growth over these five years.
We continue our series on philanthropy in and around Syria, in partnership with the Zakat Foundation of America (ZF), with an overview of ZF’s work in connection to the holiday of Ramadan. The following article was contributed by ZF.
At TechSoup we still, lovingly, refer to NGOsource, a project of TechSoup and the Council on Foundations, as a "new service." But now, as we celebrate our five-year anniversary, we are reminded that our revolutionary and transformative endeavor has matured before our very eyes. Growing at an average of 40 percent year over year, we have become the sector's gold standard in equivalency determination. I suppose the "new" quality that we all feel is rooted in our startup energy, ever-evolving technology, and relentless drive to constantly and continuously improve.
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.