Volume One Number Ten

US Senate Finance Committee Attention to Nonprofits

Outline of the Proposals in the "White Paper"; Public Testimony

On June 21, the staff of the Senate Finance Committee released a 19-page listing of possible steps Congress might take to control abuses related to nonprofits and tax-exempt status.  The full paper is available from the Senate website [[[...click here...]]].

Independent Sector has posted a summary of these proposals and is asking nonprofit organizations to "weigh in" if they are already working on the issues involved or have expertise on the question that could be shared as the proposals are debated and refined.  The summary and sign-up form is on the IS website [[[...click here...]]].

On June 22, the Committee (chaired by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa) held a hearing titled "Charity Oversight and Reform: Keeping Bad Things from Happening to Good Charities." The prepared statements by Senators and witnesses -- including the IRS commissioner -- can also be seen on the Senate website. For those with a RealPlayer plugin, there's even a streaming video version of the hearing, including the testimony of concealed witnesses Mr. Car (about auto-donation scams) and Mr. House (about self-dealing that enriched founders of a down-payment assistance program); to watch the hearing. [[[...click here...]]]

News about Nonprofits and Their Work

Electronic Communications

New Law Takes Effect June 10

A new law allows using electronic communications for some activities of nonprofit boards. ESB 6188 was passed by the 2004 Legislature with the support of the Washington State Bar Association and others; the legislative history and text of the bill can be read at the legislature's website [[[...click here...]]].

Davis Wright Tremaine has published an online "Tax Exempt Organization Bulletin" discussing the effect of ESB 6188 [[[...click here...]]]. One important note from the bulletin: "To take advantage of these new tools, many nonprofit organizations will need to amend their bylaws."

The new law does not  permit voting in the usual sense of that word by email; only if the board has adopted a procedure for unanimous written consent, and all board members actually do respond with written consent, can a board take final action on a matter using electronic communications in place of a regular meeting.

September 17, 2004

United Way of King County Day of Caring

On September 17 teams of volunteers will work on projects throughout the county. To propose a project, visit the United Way's website at http://www.uwkc.org/volunteer/solutions/agencies. 

ePhilanthropy

National Experts to Offer Training in September

The ePhilanthropy Tour will come to North Seattle Community College on Thursday, September 9, for a four-hour session covering the uses of the Internet for event registration and management; prospect research; volunteer recruitment and management; and communication and stewardship. The presenters will be ePhilanthropy Foundation President Ted Hart and Nancy Johnson of the prospect research firm Target America. The tour's stop in Seattle is sponsored by the Washington chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Transition

Alice Shobe to Head the Sound Families Initiative

Alice Shobe moved July 1 from her position as Executive Director of Philanthropy NW to Sound Families Initiative with the City of Seattle. The initiative is a $40 million multi-year project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create 1,500 additional units of transitional housing for homeless families in Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties. It includes supportive services for the families in transition from homelessness.  The City of Seattle is the administrative home for this project.

Executive Alliance Annual Meeting

Recognition and Elections

At its annual meeting on June 16, Executive Alliance presented its Third Annual EA Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector to Jane White Vulliet of Program for Early Parent Support (www.pepsgroup.org) , a nonprofit prevention program for parents with children ages birth to three. PEPS is based on the belief that knowledgeable, supported parents will be less likely to abuse or neglect their children.

At the same meeting, Executive Alliance elected new board members and officers.  After the election, the board includes:

• Jeanne Anderson, Foundation for Early Learning;

• Secretary: Alaric Bien, Chinese Information and Service Center;

• Mike Bisesi, Center for Social Enterprise and Nonprofit Management, Seattle University;

• Rich Brooks, Renton Area Youth Services;

• Grace Chien, Girl Scouts;

• Treasurer: Ginny English, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies;

• Linda Hall, St.Andrews Housing Group;

• Roy Hamrick Hamrick, Investment Counsel;

• Mike Heinisch (past chair), Kent Youth and Family Services;

• Ruthann Howell, Family Services of King County;

• Megan Karch, FareStart;

• Daniel Lieberman, Creative Context Consulting;

• Ted Lord, Ted Lord Consulting;

• Paola Maranan, Children's Alliance;

• Josephine Tamayo Murray, Catholic Community Services;

• Chair Elect: Linda Nageotte, Food Lifeline;

• David Okimoto, United Way of King County;

• Linda Olsen, Eastside Domestic Violence Program;

• Thomas Rembiesa, Ruth Dykeman Children's Center;

• Michelle Sanidad, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation;

• Susan Trapnell, ACT Theatre;

• Chair: Greg Vigdor, Washington Health Foundation;

• Liz Vivian, 2V/ACT formerly Seattle Youth Involvement Network;

• Jane White Vulliet, Program for Early Parent Support.

Robbie Rohr, Executive Director of Executive Alliance, has been appointed to the Puget Sound Regional Council's Long Range Economic Strategy project management team to work with economic development council representatives and others from throughout the region.

News from The Evergreen State Society

Bob Ness rejoins board. One of the founders and the first chair of The Evergreen State Society, who is also a member of numerous other boards of nonprofits in Western Washington, Bob Ness has been elected to a new term on the board of the society.

Nonprofits in Washington

Expanded online edition published

All the text and tables of Nonprofits in Washington: 2004 are now available online as easy to open web files (as well as the printed summary posted as a .pdf file in an easy-to-print format). The link for Nonprofits in Washington is http://www.tess.org/NPinWA.

The online edition has live links to many related data sources and offers a great deal more information than could be included in print.

There is a financial profile from IRS records for organizations in each field of service for each county in Washington state.  And there is a collection of links to similar overviews of nonprofits in many other states around the country.

Put Barber will be discussing the report and the ways access to information about nonprofit is changing at the "Civil Society in Everyday Life" morning meeting at Seattle University on July 20.  For details [[[...click here...]]]. 

The online publication of Nonprofits in Washington is supported by Clark Nuber, CPAs and Consultants.

2004 Nonprofit Leadership Conference

Session notes available

Notes from several of the sessions at "Agility: Leading Nimble Nonprofits" held April 1 at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue are now posted online.  To see the conference outline with links to the available sessions [[[...click here...]]].

Observing Nonprofits

Observing Nonprofits is an occasional publication of The Evergreen State Society, sent by email to members and supporters. A few days after publication, it is also emailed to a wider audience of people interested in nonprofits in Washington state and simultaneously posted on the Society’s website at http://www.tess.org

Managing Editor: Marie Sauter, MNPL

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Observing Nonprofits is a benefit of membership in The Evergreen State Society. To learn more about membership options, visit http:://www.tess.org/pages/join.html.

Observing Nonprofits is also circulated on a delayed schedule to readers of NonprofitNetworking (a free email service of The Evergreen State Society). To add your address to the NonprofitNetworking list, send email to nonprofitnetworking-request@tess.org.