Federal
IRS guidance on reclaiming transportation UBIT taxes paid
On January 21st, the IRS issued guidance designed to help nonprofits quickly get back the money they paid in 2018 and 2019 on the now-repealed tax on nonprofit transportation benefits: How To Claim a Refund or Credit of Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) or adjust Form 990-T for Qualified Transportation Fringe Amounts.
Updated Research on the State of the Sector
In partnership with Baruch College’s Center for Nonprofit Strategy & Management (CNSM), SeaChange Capital Partners, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues, on February 6th, 2020, Nonprofit New York presented research on the current status of the nonprofit sector in New York City during a Policy Research Forum.
CAN: Campaign to Advance Nonprofits
Nonprofit New York’s Public Policy Platform
Nonprofit New York is thrilled to launch our overarching policy campaign, CAN: the Campaign to Advance Nonprofits. CAN is Nonprofit New York’s public policy* agenda, based on our Declaration of Nonprofit Rights.
Federal
Repeal of Nonprofit Transportation Tax! The Senate voted to approve two spending bills: 1) the Consolidated Appropriations Act, H.R. 1158, (which funds the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, and general government operations at $860 billion), and 2) the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, H.R. 1865, which, as amended, repeals the 21% tax on nonprofit transportation benefits.
New Yorkers for Culture & Arts (NY4CA) is a city-wide coalition of cultural groups that believes that every New Yorker in every neighborhood should be able to engage in the life transforming, community strengthening power of culture and arts. Formed in 2018 by the merger of two existing cultural advocacy groups, we began the work of building a strong network of arts and culture groups to fight for increased funding and improved public policy supporting culture across the five boroughs.
National
.ORG Registry
Prices for nonprofit website addresses ending in .org may soon increase dramatically and censorship may become a distinct possibility because of two seemingly connected events. Earlier this year, the governing body overseeing the .org domain, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), removed price caps despite 97 percent of the more than 3,200 submitted comments expressing opposition.
Nonprofits often represent the needs of our communities, but fewer than 3% of nonprofits engage in legislative advocacy, which can create the change we want to see (See: Endnote 1). In a time when New Yorkers face housing insecurity, threats to immigration, affordability, and other challenges, policymakers need to hear more from you, not less.
Can you tell us a bit about AAF?
Founded in 1989, Asian American Federation (AAF) is a pan-Asian nonprofit leadership organization that supports a network of 70 Asian American community service organizations. AAF’s mission is to raise the influence and wellbeing of Asian American communities through research, policy advocacy, public awareness, and organizational development.
Federal
Fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: recently introduced federal legislation (R. 4674) would strengthen the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, among other things. PSLF allows borrowers to earn forgiveness of the balance of their student loan debt after working in public service, including at 501(c)(3) nonprofits, for at least 10 years while making qualifying payments.
Nonprofits have been operating on an antiquated business model that no longer meets the needs of our communities. We have a plan to solve that problem.
We believe that nonprofits have a right to sustainable resources. This means funding that is dependable, flexible, and collaborative, and that fully covers all program expenses.