July 2013

Online social media, including social networks, blogs, and bookmarking sites, offer terrific opportunities for nonprofits to build communities, communicate with supporters and members, and advance their respective missions, causes and industries. In fact, it is difficult to find a nonprofit these days not steeped in online social media. However, doing so without carefully considering and managing the potential legal risks can expose the unwary organization to significant, potential liabilities. Although the laws and regulations governing online social media are diverse and very much evolving, nonprofits should be able to recognize and guard against known legal traps that can snare them when operating in this environment.
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After concerns about overwhelming liability sidelined some of the building industry's major construction firms during the City's response to Superstorm Sandy, several industry organizations are urging passage of a New York Emergency Responder Act by the end of the legislative session in Albany, June 20.

The Emergency Responder Act, introduced in June in the Senate and the Assembly, would protect firms aiding government during emergency response and recovery efforts from the threat of unlimited liability claims after the event.

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In 2011, the largest U.S. foundations gave $10.2 billion in grants to benefit underserved communities and $2.9 billion towards empowering them. These are among the new findings from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) in its annual The Philanthropic Landscape series on key foundation giving trends.

In The Philanthropic Landscape: The State of Giving to Underserved Communities 2011, the philanthropy watchdog group notes that the share of foundation grant dollars reported as benefiting the poor, elderly, women and other marginalized groups was 42 percent, a slight increase from the 40 percent average in 2008–2010.
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America loves a fierce individualist. There is something inspiring about the lone executive director blazing a path into the valuable future. Yet, while our culture will always celebrate the individual, the near future will be all about innovation for sustainable value creation, led by teams.
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Joe has always been a successful association executive. But recently he's found that the strategic planning system that once served his organization well is no longer working. He used to be able to plan on a five-year cycle. Now, even one-year cycles are too long. Regardless of his best-laid plans, other forces in the association keep overriding his strategies. What's more, the tricks that have always helped him see what needs to be done and motivate his staff are failing him. Joe is deeply frustrated. It seems so unfair; how can it be that here, at the point in his career when he thought he knew everything he needed to know about his job, each day is such a struggle?
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Internal Revenue Service Principal Deputy Commissioner Danny Werfel issued a report outlining new actions and next steps to fix problems uncovered with the IRS’ review of tax-exempt applications and improve the wider processes and operations in place at the IRS.

The three-part report covers a wide range of areas Werfel and his leadership team examined during the past month. The report cites actions to hold management accountable and identifies immediate steps to help put the process for approving tax-exempt applications back on track. Werfel also outlines actions needed to protect and improve wider IRS operations, ranging from compliance areas to taxpayer service.
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