National News

Nonprofits urged to improve advocacy (April 2011)

Nonprofit need to look internally to boost their advocacy, while coalitions, funders and policymakers should adjust their positions on advocacy and lobbying, a new report says.

Nonprofits, for example, should treat advocacy and lobbying more broadly and connect advocacy to the needs of their clients and to broader public objectives says Building Advocacy from Within, a report by the Listening Post Project of the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Based on a roundtable in July 2010 in Los Angeles that included 22 nonprofit advocacy experts, representatives of nonprofit intermediary groups, and nonprofit practitioners, mainly based on the West Coast, the report says nonprofits should "build advocacy more explicitly into the infrastructure of their organizations and boards."

The Urban Institute released a study regarding the first-ever national survey documenting the serious and widespread problems experienced by nonprofit human service providers under contract with governments at the local, state and federal levels. (October 2010)

The report, Human Service Nonprofits and Government Collaboration: Findings from the 2010 National Survey of Nonprofit Government Contracting and Grants, provides essential national and state data on contracting practices, and ranks states from worst to best on several areas of concern to individuals in need of services, to taxpayers, and to entire communities.

In conjunction with the release of the Urban Institute's survey results, the National Council of Nonprofits issued a Special Report: Costs, Complexification and Crisis: Government’s Human Services Contracting “System” Hurts Everyone, which provides additional context to the Urban Institute’s findings. This Report explains how the contracting problems affect everyone in America, not just nonprofits

August 19,2010 GuideStar - How to Find Out if Your Nonprofit Is in Danger of Losing Tax-Exempt Status

In response to our article earlier this month on filing relief for smaller nonprofits facing automatic revocation of tax-exempt status, a number of people asked us if there is a list of the nonprofits at risk. The answer is yes; the list can be found on the IRS Web site. View the list.

The IRS warns, however, that nonprofits not on the list may also be in danger of losing their exemptions, particularly: Read more.