Tag: charity

There’s no such thing as tainted money

I’ve been meaning to write this for weeks, ever since the Philanthropy Club discussion of tainted donations—that is, what money nonprofits should turn down because of its source. The panelists were unanimous in their view that money arising from behavior contrary to a group’s mission—say, in the most extreme case, donations from a pornographer to... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
July 14, 2021 at 1:15 pm
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Charities should provide charity care

Charities should provide charity care
Despite hospitals’ arguing that Obamacare makes it unnecessary for them to care for the poor, California has adopted a policy requiring nonprofit hospitals to earn that tax-favored status by–surprise!–providing charity care. To coin a phrase: damn straight. The faith expressed in Obamacare is touching, actually, considering the Herculean efforts being made by this Administration and... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
April 21, 2018 at 7:53 pm
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Union-busting nonprofit gets busted

Union-busting nonprofit gets busted
The National Labor Relations Board goes after a union-busting nonprofit. Unexpected from a Republican administration, but very welcome. Once more, with feeling: the job of nonprofits is to combat poverty, not create it. And remember, the reason social services aren’t provided by the government is that public sector employees are unionized. The growth of nonprofit... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
March 12, 2018 at 1:43 pm
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Charities should fight poverty, not create it

Charities should fight poverty, not create it
The job of the charitable sector is to fight poverty, not create it. Someone should mention that to the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. Bravo to the SEIU for calling attention to the issue with a one-day strike of child-care workers. In the wake of the West Virginia teachers’ successful job action, it seems like unions... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
March 9, 2018 at 6:18 pm
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A Coop of Nonprofits Shares Front Door and Back Office

A Coop of Nonprofits Shares Front Door and Back Office
This effort in Minnesota brings together a bunch of human-service agencies into a coop of nonprofits which will provide prospective clients with a single entry point–“front door”–to gain access to the services they need while also providing the coop members with shared human-resource, financial management and other back-office functions. Chicago [and other] nonprofits, take note!... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
January 18, 2018 at 3:05 pm
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High-skills volunteers stand out in agency merger

The merger of these two groups dedicated to connecting Chicago nonprofits with volunteer resources will nonetheless leave in place the separate program which asks women to use their professional skills pro bono. As someone who works with agencies to deploy high-skills volunteers, the Nonprofiteer applauds the group’s understanding that there are volunteers, and then there... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
December 18, 2017 at 6:13 pm
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Dear Nonprofiteer, Are we still tax exempt? In what state?

Dear Nonprofiteer, During the 1980’s, our university located in Washington, DC, instructed its alumni affiliates to seek their individual tax exempt status. Our PA affiliate did so. Yet, around 2001, the university instructed all affiliates to get rid of individual tax exempt statuses and assume its. At that time, our affiliate leadership asked the university’s... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
June 27, 2017 at 8:14 pm
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Dear Nonprofiteer, How can we miss our nonprofit Board chair when she won't go away?

Dear Nonprofiteer, How can we miss our nonprofit Board chair when she won't go away?
Dear Nonprofiteer: I have served on several nonprofit boards in the past few years and I have observed that the majority of these Boards are wasteful of public money. One such Board is a particular offender: the Board Chair (who was a bully throughout her reign) completed her term as Chair and as a member... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
October 14, 2016 at 5:06 pm
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Dear Nonprofiteer, Can This Nonprofit Be Saved?

Dear Nonprofiteer, Can This Nonprofit Be Saved?
Dear Nonprofiteer: I serve on the board of a non-profit. I am growing increasingly uncomfortable with the practices of our board president and am not sure what to do. First, she’s a bully and people are afraid of her. When she encounters people who do not agree with her, they quickly become deemed “inappropriate” and... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
September 1, 2016 at 4:12 pm
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Hoarding endowments: How poor students and taxpayers preserve the wealth of private higher education

Hoarding endowments: How poor students and taxpayers preserve the wealth of private higher education
Buried in this story about elite universities’ practice of hoarding endowments while squeezing money from Uncle Sam and poor students is a nugget of information on which the otherwise all-knowing Nonprofiteer has previously failed to focus: that colleges and universities are exempt from the 5% distribution rule which controls hoarding by foundations.  Institutions of higher... Read more »
By Nonprofiteer,
August 11, 2016 at 11:05 am
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    Nonprofiteer

    The Nonprofiteer is Kelly Kleiman, principal of NFP Consulting, which provides Board development, strategic planning and fund-raising services to charities and philanthropies. Through her consulting practice and in her guise as The Nonprofiteer, Kelly has spent the past 25-plus years helping small and mid-sized nonprofits organize themselves better and raise more money. These days she focuses especially on helping them use high-skill volunteers. Kelly is also a lawyer and freelance journalist whose reportage and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and other dailies; in magazines including In These Times and Chicago Philanthropy; in the alternative press; on websites including the Huffington Post; and on the radio, including the BBC and WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. She and her fellow "Dueling Critic" Jonathan Abarbanel present a weekly podcast of their reviews of Chicago theater at DuelingCritics.net. Earlier in her career she was dean of admissions of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and Executive Director of the Chicago Children’s Choir, and practiced real estate and zoning law with the firm of Rudnick & Wolfe. Kelly holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Chicago. She was a founding Board member of the Association of Consultants to Nonprofits and also served for 5 years on the Board of the Association for Women Journalists–Chicago. She can be reached ("Dear Nonprofiteer . . .") at KellyNFP@yahoo.com.

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    • Nonprofiteer

      February 6, 2020 at 12:00 am

      In reply to Leubna Asad:
      No, they cannot make mandatory any requirement to pay or participate: it's a public school, so children can't be excluded…
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      Leubna Asad

      February 5, 2020 at 12:00 am

      so, let me understand ... my child’s booster club at a public school for a sports team has issued a…
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    • Nonprofiteer

      November 14, 2019 at 12:00 am

      In reply to Ton gen:
      I don't have enough facts to answer. It's certainly legal for a booster club to solicit contributions from parents, and…
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      Ton gen

      November 13, 2019 at 12:00 am

      So, if a booster club is asked by staff to collect student fees for art supplies, then turns the fees…
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    • KennethFredrick

      December 11, 2017 at 12:00 am

      Volunteering is the better work opportunity to help the communities. Becoming a volunteer always makes you feel better. There are…
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