Search Charities Online: Select Check

Learn how to search for charities and other nonprofits using the IRS online tool called Select Check in this new YouTube video.
Watch this and other videos on the IRS YouTube Channel.

Year End Tax Tips from the IRS

Development and fundraising offices will want to get these tips to potential donors. December is traditionally a month for giving generously to charities, friends and family. But it’s also a time that can have a major impact on the tax return filed in the New Year.  The IRS Special Edition Tax Tips offers tips about charity donations before year end. Click here.

Covenant Project Workshops

Announcing:
Covenant Project Workshop
February 4, 2013, 9am-5pm
2311 S. Lindbergh, St. Louis, MO

This workshop is part of the Covenant Project which provides comprehensive service to religious institutes that wish to explore their options in an uncertain and changing future. In this difficult but grace-filled time, a community can live today's challenges with the same courage, fidelity and creativity that have marked its entire history. We assist communities exploring options, in identifying the covenant(s) and/or partnership(s) that will be helpful along the way, and in developing a timeline and putting the necessary documents in place regarding:

Sponsorship
Health-care and retirement resources
Administration, Temporal Goods and Finance
Pastoral Care of Members, Communities, Ministries
Governance and Legal Matters

More Information - Registration - Printable Flyer

New Mileage Rates

The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2013 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2013, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:
• 56.5 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable
organizations
The rate for business miles driven during 2013 increases 1 cent from the 2012 rate. The medical and moving rate is also up 1 cent per mile from the 2012 rate.

8 Nonprofit Tasks before Year's End

1. Make sure you've had your Annual Meeting.

2. File Annual Report with state if required.

3. Ensure you're on target to file federal Form 990 and any similar state filings.

4. Confirm that charitable solicitation registrations are up to date (if required).

5. Review grant agreements to ensure terms and restrictions are being honored.

6. Review insurance policies for adequate coverage and conformity to current operation.

7. Private Foundation must make grants to public charities sufficient to avoid excise tax penalties.

8. Thank Your Donors with Proper Gift Receipts.

From Daily Dose of Nonprofit Law

Pope issues norms on charitable agencies.

The Pope issued new norms giving the local bishop sweeping powers over charitable agencies operating in his diocese. It remains to be seen whether and how this will be implemented, given the widespread financial abuse and mismanagement in the Vatican and in various dioceses. The document may be found here.

Mystics & Prophets: How to be a Nun

Mystics & Prophets: How to be a Nun: A Quick Guide for Intrepid Explorers, Scared Survivors and Those Who Don't Know by the Colletine Poor Clare community at Ty Mam Duw, No... read on...

IRS Group Rulings Questionnaire

To help them better understand the relationship between central or parent organizations of group rulings and their subordinates, and learn how they satisfy their exemption and filing requirements, IRS Exempt Organizations Section is asking more than 2,000 randomly selected central organizations to complete the Group Rulings Questionnaire. See a copy of the Questionaire.

Webcast on New Member Legal Issues

November 20, 2012: New Members Legal Issues - This updated webcast will discuss the various issues in screening and incorporating new members. New members are diverse in age, education, experience, culture and ethnicity. For this reason flexibility practices and policies is necessary. Participants will receive a newly revised Screening Workbook for use with new members; it is available in English and Spanish. For more information & to register...

Online Symposium on Consecrated Life

Fourth Session - October 14, 2012, 2pm ET

Karen Rose, OSB

Charism: Yesterday, Today and Forever

Charism: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Using oral histories of sisters entering a Benedictine monastery in the early 20th century and interview data from women entering in the last 30 years, the paper will compare and contrast the call to religious life in the pre- and post-Vatican II eras. Discussion will focus on the lessons to be learned as we move into the future.

Presenter:
Sr. Karen entered religious life in 2007. A British citizen, she has a BA/MA in philosophy and theology from Oxford University. She holds an MSc in social anthropology, PhD in palliative care and has researched extensively on social aspects of health care. Currently, her research interest is in applying the lens of social science to the study of history.

Responder:
Sr. Juliet Mousseau teaches theology at Aquinas Institute in St. Louis, MO.

For more information or to register go to www.ahereford.org/symposium

All Social Security Payments to Come Electronically

In August, anyone who gets Social Security retirement or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits by mail should have received a notice with their monthly check that emphasized the need to switch to electronic payments by March 1, 2013.  If any of your community members are not receiving their Social Security or SSI payments electronically, they need to switch to electronic payments ahead of the deadline. If they don’t make the switch, they may see an interruption of benefits come March.

For more information see http://www.socialsecurity.gov/deposit/howtosign.htm.

 

Nonprofit Law Seminar

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Establishing and Running a Non-Profit: Part I

This popular seminar provides an overview of the legal basics for establishing and running a non-profit organization. Presented by Amy Hereford, an attorney and entrepreneur who speaks from her experience in working with non-profit start-ups. It includes practical tips, useful resources including the Non-profit, Tax-exempt Corporation Workbook (2012), an e-book (PDF) that presents the process of establishing a non- profit in a step-by-step format with ample space for notes, charts for gathering necessary information and tables for developing time-lines and assigning responsibilities. An excellent tool for assisting in non-profit formation, orienting new board members and non-profit directors.

NPAD:703 | $25

680 # 10am-12pm Saturday Sept. 29, 2012

Meramec-Bus. Admin., 205 (Meramec - 802 Couch Ave. Meramec Campus )

Establishing and Running a Non-Profit: Part II

This seminar builds on the previous session and provides more information. It will explore the legal requirements of operating a non- profit business organization, board responsibilities, business law for non- profits and legal compliance. It will also explore newer business models for non-profits, including fiscal sponsorship, nonprofit alliances, non- profit/for profit joint ventures and other collaborative structures.

NPAD:703 | $25

681 # 1pm-3pm Saturday Sept. 29, 2012

Meramec-Bus. Admin., 205 (Meramec - 802 Couch Ave. Meramec Campus )

Additional Information

Call: (314) 984-7777

Visit: www.stlcc.edu/Continuing_Education

Covenant Project Update

Registrations are still open for the Covenant Project Phase One workshops in September.

• September 8, 2012 in St. Louis MO
• September 4, 11, 18, 25 online.

Go to www.ahereford.org/covenant to register for either workshop by August 15.

2012 Group Ruling Letter Available

The 2012 Group Ruling letter has been posted on the USCCB website. You may access it here.

Mystics & Prophets

Announcing a new collaborative blog to share reflections on emerging religious life. The project grows out of conversations among younger women religious in the US and seeks to broaden the conversation. The recent series "Reimagining Nuns" has been quite popular. Read more....

Webcast: Social Media, Religious Life and the Law

August 21, 2012 - What could these topics possibly have in common? Whether you’re well on your way with social media or just exploring this new frontier, chances are you have questions. This one hour webcast will explore this new meeting place of law, life and culture, raise legal issues and propose policy statements. Read more...

FBAR Due June 30

The annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, Form TD F 90-22.1,  must be received by the Department of the Treasury on or before June 30.
Related link:

• Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)

Covenant Project

This newly launched project provides comprehensive service to religious institutes that wish to explore coming to their historical completion. In this difficult but grace-filled time, a community can live today's challenges with the same courage, fidelity and creativity that have marked its entire history. We assist communities in developing a time-line, in identifying the covenant(s) and/or partnership(s) that will be helpful along the way and in putting the necessary documents in place. Click here....

Online Symposium on Consecrated Life

Third Session - July 8, 2012, 2pm ET Sisters on the Cosmological Frontier

Frontier Sisters: From the time they arrived in the New World in 1727 up to today, the profound frontier spirit of Catholic sisters have shaped the social and cultural landscape of the nation. While we know that the wild frontier of the New World has long been tamed, Catholic sisters in the 21st century have entered an equally challenging and unexplored frontier, that of the cosmological which is giving rise to a new context for the theology of religious life and its lived expression in the world. Join us as we explore religious life on the evolutionary edge!
Gail Worcelo is the co-founder of Green Mountain Monastery, along with the late Passionist priest and cultural historian Thomas Berry. Gail is a liturgical dancer, clinical psychologist and retreat leader who is passionate about her own growth in Christ consciousness and in linking with others who as Chardin said, "are striving to unite in depth to support evolution's advance."To Register....

Clean Copy of your OCD listing

You can contact the OCD publisher and ask for a PDF copy of the page(s) on which your organization is listed They will attach it to an email so you will have it quickly. Send your request to Agnes Orlowska at the address listed on their Contact Us page.

New from the IRS

New Publication on Tax on Unrelated Business Income of Exempt Organizations

The IRS has released Publication 598, Tax on Unrelated Business Income of Exempt Organizations, in which it describes which organizations are subject to the tax, return filing requirements, what an unrelated trade or business is, and how to calculate unrelated business taxable income. - read more

Online Tool to Check Charitable Organizations

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new online search tool, Exempt Organizations Select Check, to help users more easily find key information about tax-exempt organizations, such as federal tax status and filings.   - read more

Payroll Tax Cut Extended

Under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, enacted February 23, 2012, workers will continue to receive larger paychecks for the rest of this year based on a lower social security tax withholding rate of 4.2 percent, which is two percentage points less than the 6.2 percent rate in effect prior to 2011. This reduced rate, originally in effect for all of 2011, was extended through the end of February by the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, enacted Dec. 23.

FAQs on New Payment Card Reporting Requirements

The Internal Revenue Service is providing special transitional relief to banks and other payment settlement entities required to begin reporting payment card and third-party network transactions to the IRS on new Form 1099-K. The IRS gave new guidance on independent contractors. Read more....

Expanded Minsiterial Exception Case

On Jan. 11, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a significant church employment dispute, giving religious organizations wide latitude in hiring and firing clergy and other employees who perform religious duties. In its unanimous decision, the high court explicitly recognized a legal doctrine known as the “ministerial exception.”
The case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, involved the dismissal of a teacher at a Lutheran school in Michigan who performed both secular and religious duties. The teacher argued that she had been fired in violation of laws protecting people with disabilities. Specifically, she claimed that the religious school had retaliated against her for asserting her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the high court ruled that the ministerial exception trumps anti-discrimination laws. “The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the court. “But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission.” Read more....

Directors personally liable for negligence of a nonprofit board

Directors and officers must exercise reasonable inquiry, skill and diligence in performing their duties and must have a reasonable basis for their reliance on any information provided them. If it is determined that officers or directors of a nonprofit corporation have not fulfilled their fiduciary duties with respect to the management of the organization, creditors may be able to hold the directors personally liable for the nonprofit’s debts. Read more....

Online Symposium on Consecrated Life

First Session - January 8, 2012, 2pm ET A Prophetic Moment: Transforming the Shadow and Bringing Religious Life into the 21st Century

Religious life is a call from God to be a distinct voice in the wilderness. Within this wilderness is shadow material that begs to be uncovered and transformed. Is this the prophetic work that Religious are called to in the 21st century? In light of the vows and the trends of the Church, these shadow elements and their transformational possibilities will be explored.
Presenter: Linda Buck, CSJ is a Sister of St. Joseph of Orange. She is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and holds a Master’s degree from Pepperdine University in Clinical Psychology. She is an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and a Certified Spiritual Director. Linda provides workshops and retreats focusing on the integration of spirituality and psychology.
Register: www.ahereford.org/symposium