Here’s the breakdown:

Is your favorite nonprofit one of them? The IRS has made the list available to the [...]]]> Small nonprofit organizations at risk of losing their tax-exempt status because they failed to file required returns can preserve their status by filing returns by Oct. 15, 2010, under a one-time relief program announced by Internal Revenue Service.

Is your favorite nonprofit one of them? The IRS has made the list available to the public [list since removed from the IRS site] — there are more than 35,000 nonprofits at risk in California alone. For many, getting back on track will be quite easy. Neither larger nonprofits nor private foundations, however, are included in the last chance program.

According to the IRS, it will publish a list of revoked organizations in early 2011, and donors who contribute to any of the at-risk organizations are protected until the final revocation list is published.

Read the IRS release.

The New York Times yesterday [...]]]> Is your charity or other nonprofit about to lose its tax-exemption? If it hasn’t been keeping up on filing its annual returns with the IRS, its tax-exemption is in jeopardy. Being “tax-exempt” basically means that a nonprofit doesn’t pay federal income taxes on income related to its core purpose.

The New York Times yesterday reported that as many as 400,000 nonprofits are headed toward losing their tax-exemption on May 15 this year. The reason? Failure to keep current with the IRS by filing a Form 990, Form 990-EZ or Form 990-N. The filing rules apply to organizations that wish to be tax-exempt, even those who receive less than $25,000 in annual income (they used to be exempt from filing).

Read the story (free registration at the NYT site may be required)

It’s a good reminder [...]]]> An article in today’s issue of The New York Times reports on the dramatic growth in the number of public charities (up 60% in the last decade), and raises concerns about the ability of the IRS and state agencies to keep track, and about the revenue cost to the Treasury.

It’s a good reminder to me that, just because an organization has an IRS 501(c)(3) [public charity] determination, doesn’t mean that you should donate to it. Investigate before you donate.

Read Nonprofits Numbingly Numerous.

Read the article (you’ll need to register for a free NY Times online account).

The reasons vary: Hollywood companies, once local, are now part of multinational corporations; the recession has taken a [...]]]> A report in The New York Times* reports a growing tendency for players in the Los Angeles entertainment industry to direct their giving to national and international causes, far beyond the local area. The report states

The reasons vary: Hollywood companies, once local, are now part of multinational corporations; the recession has taken a toll; some celebrities prefer issues that bring publicity, or support the towns they come from; and the insular nature of star life in a car-bound city may limit knowledge of local needs.

Question: If local businesses and other givers don’t help meet local needs, who will?

*Note: You may need to register to access the NYT report.

Here’s the bad news: Charitable giving in the U.S. for 2008 dropped 2 percent from 2007 levels. That’s a 5.7% drop when you factor in inflation, and a record downturn for the 50+ [...]]]> On June 10, 2009, Giving USA Foundation released the latest Giving USA, its annual report on charitable giving in the U.S.

Here’s the bad news: Charitable giving in the U.S. for 2008 dropped 2 percent from 2007 levels. That’s a 5.7% drop when you factor in inflation, and a record downturn for the 50+ years the giving numbers have been tracked.

The good news: Despite widely-felt individual and country-wide economic distress, Americans were still remarkably generous — giving more than $300 billion!

Individual and bequest giving remained by far the largest source (82%), followed by foundation and corporate giving (13% and 5%, respectively).