NYCON Featured on NPR's All Things Considered

NPR story, Amid Red Ink, Tax-Exempts Asked To Add To Coffers, features NYCON CEO Doug Sauer.

State and local governments, eager to close their budget gaps, are increasingly going after charities and other tax-exempt groups. Government officials are proposing new fees on nonprofits to help pay for services. They're also challenging the exemptions these groups get from sales and property taxes.

In Concord, Mass., for example, the Board of Selectmen sent a letter to the town's nonprofits earlier this year. It said that local property taxes were so high they were driving residents away. The board asked the town's private schools, hospitals, charities and churches if they could start paying their fair share.

"I guess we're just hoping that in times where people are economically really stretched, that to the extent that they're able, they can contribute," says board member Virginia McIntyre.

But the initial response was not what the board had hoped. One arts group offered to contribute $1,000 to the town, but most of the nonprofits responded — politely — that they contributed to Concord in many nonmonetary ways.

'A Slippery Slope'

Kathi Anderson is executive director of the Walden Woods Project in Concord. It preserves property including Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau — who, she notes, went to jail rather than pay a tax he opposed.

"The land that is now protected is a wonderful resource, not only for people who live in the community, but for people who visit the community," Anderson says.

She says she feels the town's pain but that her group is hurting financially, too. She says it would be hard-pressed to come up with the $89,000 Concord says the Walden Woods Project would owe if it weren't tax-exempt. Even a "donation" to the town would send the wrong message, Anderson says.

"This is a slippery slope because if indeed a donation is made, then it implies that one supports the notion of having charities essentially pay taxes," Anderson says.

And that would fly in the face of the long-time relationship between government and charity — the idea that nonprofits fill a valuable community role and should be exempt from tax.

But increasingly that relationship is being challenged. Boston wants its universities, hospitals and nonprofits to pay 25 percent of what they'd owe if they weren't tax-exempt. Philadelphia is talking to its universities about similar payments. Kansas and Hawaii considered repealing tax exemptions for nonprofits as part of their budget debates. And Minneapolis has imposed a "streetlight fee" on nonprofits to help pay for electricity and bulbs.

Tim Delaney, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, says these moves couldn't come at a worse time.

"Corporate donations are down significantly. Individual giving is down. Foundation giving is down substantially," even though demand for charitable services is up, he says. Delaney says adding more costs will only hurt taxpayers in the long run because there's high demand for the types of services — such as health care and food pantries — that many nonprofits provide.

"When we can't [provide them], then there's greater needs in the community. And when the needs get so severe, then we're going to find people demanding that government step in. That is going to cost a whole lot more," he says.

Albany's Experience

But Frank Commisso, a council member in Albany, N.Y., says cities like his have little choice. More than half of Albany's property is tax-exempt because the city is home to so many state offices, hospitals and universities. But he says these institutions still rely on city services. Read more and listen to the story here.

Arts Groups See Mayor’s Budget Plan and Shudder

The NY Times reported that It has become a New York version of Washington’s cherry blossoms: the springtime tussle over the city’s culture budget. The mayor puts forward his plan for the coming fiscal year, as he did on May 6; arts institutions insist they will be ruined by the cuts to their allocations; and the City Council puts in additional funds — sometimes more than the mayor has taken out — to ease the pain.

This year, however, the doomsayers may have legitimate reason to fear the worst. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s $63 billion budget for fiscal year 2011, which starts July 1, calls for a 31 percent reduction in financing for arts groups and a 25 percent cut for libraries — steeper than any such measures he has proposed at this stage of the budget cycle in the last eight years. And the City Council will most likely have to draw from a smaller pool of funds to help make up the difference than it has in the past.

“I don’t think I can remember a more difficult time for cultural institutions in New York City,” said Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, which she said would see its city financing decline under the mayor’s proposal to about $6 million from about $12 million in fiscal year 2008, when the appropriation to the Department of Cultural Affairs was at its highest point in the last decade. “Many are experiencing record attendance at the same time that funding from the city has been drastically reduced.”

The budget will not become final until its details are hashed out between the mayor and the council between now and the end of June. But institutions are already steeling themselves to make do with much less. The New York Public Library says that if the mayor’s proposed cut of $37 million — the harshest in the library’s history — goes through, it will have to close 10 branches, cut service across the system to four days from six, reduce staff by 36 percent and offer 25,300 fewer programs and classes for children and adults. Read more here.

Special Event: "A Conversation with NYS Comptroller Thomas P. Di Napoli And Panel Discusscion on Strategic Alliances & Partnerships

Presented by The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region and the New York Council of Nonprofits.

May 10, 2010
8:30am - 11:30am
NYSUT Headquarters
800 Troy Schenectady Rd
Latham, NY

Welcoming remarks from Secretary of State Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez
Panelists:
Doug Sauer, CEO: New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.
Cristine Cioffi, Partner: Cioffi, Slezak, Wildgrube; Chair: Ellis Medicine Board of Trustees
David W. Palmquist, Head: Museum Chartering, NY State Museum
Jason R. Lilien, Bureau Chief: Charities Bureau (invited)

Potential Topics of Discussion:

• Ways in which state agencies can work to assist the not-for-profit sector as it faces today's complex challenges
• Aspects of the current economic environment that may compel not-for-profit organizations to consider strategic affiliations, shared services, and possible mergers
• Trends, models, and best practices for strategic alliances & partnerships
• How funders and regulatory agencies can encourage and support responsible affiliations

Continental Breakfast Sponsored by NYSUT
SPACE IS LIMITED

Please respond to jcuilla@cfgcr.org to reserve your seat.

400,000 Nonprofits Tax Exemption at Risk

The NY Times reported that As many as 400,000 nonprofit organizations are weeks away from a doomsday.

At midnight on May 15, an estimated one-fifth to one-quarter of some 1.6 million charities, trade associations and membership groups will lose their tax exemptions, thanks to a provision buried in a 2006 federal bill aimed at pension reform.

“It’s going to be an unholy mess once these organizations realize what’s happened to them,” said Diana Aviv, president of the Independent Sector, a nonprofit trade group.

The federal legislation passed in 2006 required all nonprofits to file tax forms the following year. Previously, only organizations with revenues of $25,000 or more — or the vast majority of nonprofit groups — had to file.

The new law, embedded in the 393 pages of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, also directed the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax exemptions of groups that failed to file for three consecutive years. Three years have passed, and thus the deadline looms.

Read more here.

Nonprofit Legislative Issues

The following Spring Legislative Agenda information is provided by NYCON's national affiliate the National Council of Nonprofits

With only six weeks remaining until Memorial Day recess, legislators have perhaps their last and best chance to reach bi-partisan agreement on major bills before the election season is fully upon them. The following provides a synopsis of key bills we are following:

Financial Regulatory Reform and Consumer Protection: The Senate is expected to take up a bill to overhaul regulation of the financial services sector, but all 41 Republican Senators signed a letter expressing opposition to the measure as currently written. This stalemate could change, however, due to a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman Sachs alleging fraud in transactions at the root of the market collapse. The consumer protection components of the bill are of interest to many nonprofits.

Federal Budget for FY 2011: The Senate and House Budget Committees are finalizing their budget resolutions in preparation for floor action scheduled for the coming weeks. The odds are that Congress will not be successful in adopting a formal budget, which is frequently the case in election years. The debate is still worth following because leaders use the document to establish priorities, and rank-and-file members frequently seek to force votes on controversial issues, such as advocacy rights and the estate tax.

American Workers, State and Business Relief Act of 2010: This bill, which includes extension of the IRA Rollover and provides pension funding relief and $28 billion in additional funds to help the states balance their budgets, passed the Senate in March and must be reconciled with a House-passed bill. There is bi-partisan support for each of the initiatives, but legislators must come up with around $30 billion in additional revenues to pay for the bill.

Estate Tax: The tax expired at the end of 2009, but will return to higher 2001 levels next year. The President has proposed restoring the tax at 2009 levels - exemptions of $3.5 million/individual and a tax rate of 45%; Senators Lincoln (D-AR) and Kyl (R-AZ) are calling for weakening the estate tax by raising the exemption to $5 million/individual and lowering the tax rate to 35%. A weaker estate tax would generate nearly $100 billion less to the U.S. Treasury and provide less of an incentive for charitable giving.

A Conversation with New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli

Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York
invites you to

A Conversation with New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
Co-sponsored by the Human Services Council of New York City, the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, and the United Way of New York City.

Thursday, April 15, 2010
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM

The Interchurch Center, Sockman Lounge
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10027
between 119th and 120th Street, enter at 61 Claremont Avenue

REGISTER HERE

Greater Hudson Heritage Network: Executive Director Job

JOB OPENING: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREATER HUDSON HERITAGE NETWORK

THE ORGANIZATION: Greater Hudson Heritage Network, a 501(c)3 non-profit membership organization, provides services to the museum and cultural heritage community designed to advance professional standards and practices, build the capacity of organizations to meet their missions, and create a network of effective, skilled stewards of regional history and culture. GHHN provides regional and statewide programming in partnership with private foundations, state and federal agencies. GHHN is committed to management through best practices and highest ethical standards. Greater Hudson is located in Westchester County, NY, and has an annual operating budget of c. $300,000.

POSITION OPENING: The Executive Director provides leadership, vision and direction for the organization. S/he reports to and works with the Board of Trustees to articulate strategies that will advance GHHN’s mission, growth and financial stability. The Executive Director implements policy approved by the Board, manages operations and programs, and supervises a small staff. S/he represents Greater Hudson Heritage Network as an advocate for museum professionalism to funders, members, participants, partners and associated constituents, and fosters partnerships that support innovative organizational growth and financial sustainability for the field.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

Candidate should have:

-- 4-5 years successful non-profit management experience with proven leadership in organizational development, strategic thinking, and fund raising

-- Familiarity with the issues facing the museum and history field in the Hudson Valley National Heritage Area, in New York State, and nationally

-- Skills to recognize and build on marketing and communications trends, partnerships and leadership opportunities in the field

-- Strong connections with individual professionals, historical and cultural organizations in the region

-- A proven ability to maintain existing and to establish new relationships with individuals, members, funding agencies, elected officials and collaborative partner organizations

-- The ability to integrate evolving technologies and communication advances into daily operations in ways that enhance the capabilities of the organization

--Exceptional oral and written communication skills

-- B.A. in a relevant field required, Master’s degree preferred

This is a full-time position with limited benefits. Regular work week with occasional weekends or evenings as required. Some travel is required for regional conferences, workshops, etc.

Salary and benefits: $35,000-$40,000
Position to be filled by September 1st, 2010

Please respond by e-mailing a letter of interest and an attached resume to the GHHN Search Committee at info@greaterhudson.org, no later than June 1st, 2010.

Greater Hudson Heritage Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer.