Independent Sector

NEW YORK, November 10, 2009, The Wall Street Journal — The wealthy and their advisers aren't the only ones riled by the lack of certainty over next year's estate tax. Charities also have a big stake.

BOSTON, Ma, September 8, 2009 — An astonishing 73% of 12-17 year olds in the U.S., or 18.8 million youth, have engaged in a volunteer activity according to a recent study commissioned by The Volunteer Family and conducted by Harris Interactive®.

Washington, D.C., July 28, 2009 — Today Independent Sector kicked off an innovative, collaborative initiative focused on strengthening the future of America’s 1.4 million charitable organizations. Drawing on people with wide-ranging nonprofit expertise, this effort is designed to empower individual organizations and the charitable sector as a whole to make a greater impact on lives and communities.

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 — BoardSource, the nation's leading resource on nonprofit governance, has collaborated with Independent Sector to produce a new tool to help nonprofits, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs examine and improve their governance practices. The Principles Workbook: Steering Your Board toward Good Governance and Ethical Practice is designed to help the nonprofit community meet its commitment to upholding the highest standards of accountability -- and do so in a cost-effective way.

April 20, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — The average value of donated time by volunteers was $20.25 per hour in 2008, according to a new study by Independent Sector, in Washington, a coalition of major charities and foundations.

President Obama defends his proposal to cut the tax deductions that wealthy Americans can claim for their charitable donations by arguing that the shift would not have an adverse effect on giving, but two independent analyses concluded that the proposal could result in a drop of as much as $3.87 billion for the already reeling nonprofit sector.

House Republican Leader John Boehner calls President Barack Obama’s proposal to limit high earners’ charitable tax deductions a “sharp blow to charities at a time when they are hurting during the economic downturn.”

As President Obama seeks to reduce the value of the charitable deduction for wealthy Americans, fund raisers and other nonprofit experts are divided over whether his idea would cause any substantial change in charitable giving.

Marcia Bloomberg, CEO of The Bloomberg Group, announces the launch of the internet-based NonProfit National Resource Directory, connecting nonprofits to the resources they need to succeed. The directory provides a one-stop-shop for nonprofit leadership to research consultants, coaches, specialists and vendors who will assist them to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of their organization or institution.

Faith-based charities, which provide an enormous array of private social services to the nation's sick, elderly and poor, are facing unprecedented cutbacks from one of their biggest funders: the government.