Lead Stories

A Coalition of leaders from the fields of higher education, healthcare, philanthropy, law and nonprofit governance has asked the Internal Revenue Service to require large public charities to make public the composition of their governing boards.

In an Open Letter, the Coalition for Nonprofit Board Diversity Disclosure specifically asks the IRS to include on the annual Form 990 tax return a question about “the gender and racial/ethnic demographics of their boards, based on how board members self-identify.”  It further supports “including LGBTQ+ and disability disclosure.”

When Jane Scaccetti, one of the signors of the Open Letter asking the IRS to require large public charities to disclose the composition of their governing boards, was the only woman on the board of a for-profit business, the board was considering the features it could provide and promote for a 24-hour towing service for stranded motorists.  The men talked about their towing capabilities and the company’s ability to repair the cars towed in.

The Tax Court has declined to take the opportunity to decide whether a “substantial” non-qualifying purpose is sufficient to deny exemption as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization or whether the non-qualifying activity must be the “primary” activity of the organization. 

James Batmasian, a self-described person of extraordinary wealth with a history of substantial charitable giving, claimed that his 2008 conviction for failure to pay federal withholding taxes has caused “exceptional difficulties and hardships” to his “pioneering philanthropic endeavors” and his “desire to be proactive” with charity. 

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has upheld the determination by the Department of State that a for-profit company that operates a portable amusement park providing rides, games and food for carnivals and pays a percentage of the ride fees to charities and other nonprofits is a “professional solicitor” that must register under the state’s charitable solicitation registration act.  It has upheld a cease and desist order prohibiting the company from running its carnivals within the state without registering as a solicitor.

The Tax Court has upheld an IRS ruling denying a charitable estate tax deduction for the value of the remainder interest of an attempted charitable remainder annuity trust when the stated annuity payment did not meet the statutory requirements for a CRAT.  It has held that the trustees had no unilateral power to amend the instrument and had failed to obtain a necessary court reformation.