The number of organizations formally recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as exempt from federal income tax has reached nearly 2.1 million, the IRS has recently announced in its 2025 Data Book. More than 1.9 million of these are exempt under the 29 subsections of section 501(c) of the Tax Code, with 1.6 million of these exempt as 501(c)(3) charities.  Approximately 120,000 of the charities are private foundations.  The 1.9 million number does not include an estimated 320,000 churches which are not required to

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has affirmed a trial court decision prohibiting a local municipality from imposing a “business privilege tax” on membership dues and assessments of private clubs.  Although the clubs may be taxed on non-member activities like renting golf carts, sales at the pro shops, and locker room services, the Court said that the members were not doing business with themselves.

The federal District Court in the District of Columbia (James E. Boasberg) has issued preliminary injunctions to prevent the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing Civil Investigation Demands against advocates and providers of transgender care to individuals.  In two separate companion opinions, the Court has found that demands for voluminous records from the Endocrine Society and the World Health Association for Transgender Health have a likelihood of success on their claim of First Amendment retaliation.

The federal District Court in Manhattan (Colleen McMahon) has enjoined the largest mass termination of previously awarded grants in the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  More than 1,400 grants representing over $100 million in congressionally appropriated funds awarded to scholars, writers, research institutions and other humanities organizations were terminated in April 2025 because, according to the government defendants, they were intended to implement President Trump’s directives to eliminate grants associated with diversity, equity and inclusion.

More than half of the private foundations filing a Form 990-PF during 2022 have total net assets of less than $1 million, the IRS has reported recently.

Two cousins who each claimed half of the appraised value of a 13-acre parcel of property given to their local community have been denied charitable contribution deductions for lack of a contemporaneous written acknowledgment stating that they received no goods or services in return for the gift.

An appellate court in New York has affirmed the penalties imposed upon former National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.  A jury had found LaPierre liable for breach of fiduciary duty in 2024 and ordered him to pay $4.3 million in damages to the organization.  The trial court judge also banned LaPierre from serving in any fiduciary position with the NRA or any of its affiliates for a period of 10 years. (See Nonprofit Issues^®, Vol.