Tag Archives: charity

Charity Registration In The News: Mary J. Blige Foundation

Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now's logo
Performer Mary J. Blige’s, Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now is under investigation for not filing its annual charity registration with the New York attorney general, among other things.

The NY Post story doesn’t go into detail, but that’s not newsworthy. (Though I love their headline: “Mary J. Bilk.”)

A search of the the NY AG’s charity bureau database shows there hasn’t been a registration filing by the organization since 2009. The form for charity registration annual renewal is the CHAR 500. The Foundation requested multiple extensions for filing the federal IRS form 990, and those extensions are quite common.

The 990 is part of New York state’s annual renewal, so the failure to prepare the 990 may have led to the lack of filing of the New York renewals.

Here is a sample of other charities that made news by not keeping up with charity registration laws:

Georgia foundation
Connecticut police charity
New York charity caught by New Jersey attorney general (third from last paragraph)

You’ve got to keep up with registrations in each state where you solicit donations. (Here’s a video from an AFP conference to explain that if you’ve got a “Donate Now” button on your site, you are soliciting in many states.)

By not complying, you open your charity up to investigations and public scrutiny. And your board members, as fiduciaries, suffer the risk of personal liability for the organization’s failures to comply with laws. In a lot of states there are civil and even criminal penalties, including fines. Plus, it’s just bad business.

I offer compliance motivation to the Direct Marketing Association in this video.

If you want help getting into compliance, let’s talk. If you want to do it yourself, I wrote Charity Registration: State-by-State Guidelines for Compliance.

One way or another, get into compliance and keep up with renewals.

Nonprofit Radio, May 18, 2012: Causes.com & Five Words To Better Fundraising

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

Listen live or archive:

My Guests:

Susan Gordon
Susan Gordon: Causes.com

Susan Gordon, director of nonprofit services at Causes.com, shares how this resource for charities (and individuals) helps draw people to your work through action campaigns. The site is smart, easy and free.

Jen Shang
Professor Jen Shang: Five Words To Better Fundraising

Jen Shang is a professor at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. She’s a philanthropic psychologist. Her research found five words that can raise your telemarketing revenue.

 


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Here is a link to the audio podcast: 092: Causes.com & 5 Words To Better Fundraising.
View Full Transcript

What I Believe

Believe courtesy of Sidereal on Flickr.
I produce a lot of content for charities: this blog; Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio; speaking and training; “Fundraising Fundamentals” podcast for The Chronicle of Philanthropy; writing; commenting; and the Planned Giving and Charity Registration consulting I get paid for. Why do I do it?

After all, the only thing I have to do is consult. That’s my primary living. The other work is fun and builds credibility, but that’s not reason enough to spend the considerable time and money to produce it and promote it. So why? Why do more than consulting?

I believe two things.

1. Small- and mid-size charities need to improve. They need to become better at planning and delivering and measuring services and impact; better at fundraising; better at hiring and training and firing; at compliance; at finance; better at marketing and communicating; at board and volunteer management; better at exploiting technology and social media; better at managing donors and all their other assets.

2. Small- and mid-size charities deserve help to improve. They deserve it because they work hard, damn hard. And because they want to be better. But they can’t get better on their own. And they can’t afford and attract the help they deserve.

So I help them. I produce content–relying considerably on generous experts–to help small- and mid-size shops with the challenges they struggle with.

I try always to keep my work in line with these beliefs.

Avoid Planned Giving Schemes

Avoid courtesy of Thomas Hawk on Flickr.
This is related to my post two weeks ago, “It’s Planned Giving, Not Product Giving.” I said some financial product salespeople don’t have your program’s best interests at heart when they offer to “help.”

Occasionally, those offering specious help come bearing innovative, cutting-edge programs. Most of the ones I’ve seen have life insurance at their core.

Their hallmark is a paper or slide with a score of arrows connecting six or eight boxes. There’s a box for the donor and one each for your charity, the life insurance policy, the trust that owns the policy, the trustees of the trust and the AAA-rated company selling the policy. Arrows are shooting in and out of boxes and around corners.

They’re always convoluted. I ask three times how the programs work, and I can’t regurgitate the explanations 30 minutes later.

A lot of times the plans’ advocates aren’t salespeople, but well-meaning board members or committed donors.

I’ve been in Planned Giving since 1997, as a program director and consultant. I’ve never passed on one of these as something to offer donors. They might be appropriate for huge charities with highly mature programs, though I’m skeptical.

How do you protect your charity and your donors–without sounding ungracious–when offered what I’m describing? Ask two questions.

  1. What other nonprofits are executing the program?
  2. Is there a private letter ruling from the IRS?

I confidently predict the answers you’ll hear.

  1. A and B are looking at it.” – That’s meaningless. You’re looking at it too. In their next pitch meeting, you’ll be “C.”
  2. No” – Without IRS’s imprimatur, I recommend you pass on the ground-breaking innovation.

I don’t feel like a curmudgeon, though you may think I sound like one. In 15 years I’ve seen a lot of bad practices seeking refuge under the Planned Giving umbrella.

Protect your charity from dubious ideas that don’t add value for donors.

My Three Month Prediction

Wilmington Trust quoted me in its Quarterly Trends Update about the state of Planned Giving fundraising. You can find it in the, “Planned Giving is Still an Important Fundraising Option” section on page two.

I’m comfortable making three month predictions. Come August, a wiser and more august prognosticator will take my place and readers will have forgotten my forecast. That feels safe.