AdMat Minute from the National Council of Nonprofits

The networks of the National Council of Nonprofits are hosting a national webinar early next month to help nonprofits understand the new Department of Labor Final Overtime Rule. Check our website for date, time, and to register. The federal agenda is packed with everything from impeachment to a continuing resolution. To stay on the radar - nonprofits are continuing to fight for a repeal of the tax on nonprofit transportation benefits. And we commend the Missouri News Tribune, which won a most honorable mention for an editorial in support of preserving the Johnson Amendment. Charitable giving incentives continue to be a trend in the states with Arizona enacting a nonitemizer deduction this year and North Carolina and New Jersey lawmakers still moving legislation to encourage more charitable giving. Attorneys General in New York and California both made moves to protect nonprofits against bad actors and deceptive practices in the sector. Finally, in Advocacy in Action, we review the basics. They're as simple as: Who can I talk to today to advance our mission?

The Labor Department issued its final overtime rule, increasing the salary threshold for overtime pay and the threshold for highly compensated workers. Please join us for the Nonprofit Overtime Webinar on November 5 to learn more. State legislatures also prioritized employment law this year with adjustments on everything from noncompete agreements to healthcare to discrimination and sexual harassment protections. The Supreme Court is back in session today – October 7th. Abortion, environmental protection, gun safety, immigration, discrimination, and employment protections are all on the docket. Federal judges in New York and New Jersey have struck down state mandates on donor disclosures. By doing so, they protected the constitutional rights of nonprofit speech and assembly. Their decisions affect nonprofit rights in other states as well. If this isn’t enough to prove how proposals at all levels of government affect nonprofits, then check out today’s Advocacy in Action article. And then learn more in the full Nonprofit Advocacy Matters.

We begin by introducing you to our new report Nonprofit Impact Matters – your new go to resource on the latest national and state-by-state data on the scope and impact of charitable nonprofits. It’s written from the nonprofit perspective for staff, board members, volunteers, donors, and clients of nonprofits. We encourage you to check out the report, explore the corresponding microsite at www.nonprofitimpactmatters.org, and share the infographic with your colleagues and networks. And check back regularly! This is only the beginning. In the states, census funding is finally starting to flow. And Arizona and Washington State are taking action on labor standards and costs. Kansas Governor Kelly has created a new tax review panel. And New York City is implementing an initiative to fund the indirect costs of human service nonprofits. Finally, National Voter Registration Day is tomorrow – Tuesday, September 24. We encourage you all to get involved and help get people to register. In law and fact nonprofits are nonpartisan. We transcend party and support voting as a core component of democracy.

Congress is back and the race to appropriate is on. While the House had already passed most of its spending bills and the Senate seems to have clear targets, negotiations and spending shifts are expected to be tense with only 21 days left before we face the start of a new fiscal year. Georgia is considering entering the fray to allow pass-through entities to act as workarounds for the SALT cap. This is just the latest attempt to avoid the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions. This year thousands of seats are up for elections on November 5. Time to get registered to vote and join National Voter Registration Day on September 24. And while you are becoming civically engaged, the 2020 Census is right around the corner. Get Out the Count activities are shaping up with some southern states appropriating funds. Nonprofits are leading complete count commissions and stepping in to make sure everyone gets counted. And messaging matters when advocating for missions. The Seattle Human Services Coalition used researched-based messaging to win big for nonprofit grants and contracts.

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a proposed rule to expand the existing religious exemption to federal contractors, including both for-profits and nonprofits. Government contractors are currently prohibited from discriminating against potential employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Many nonprofits think this expansion would allow discrimination against certain groups. Some states are looking at budget surpluses because of the 2017 federal tax law. Others still need to approve a budget for the year. And the Illinois Governor enacted a bill to decouple a tax on nonprofit transportation benefits from federal law, saving nonprofits from an unfair, illogical state tax that was automatically triggered. Now is your chance to become a National Voter Registration Day partner with Nonprofit Vote. National Voter Registration Day is on September 24. Sign up now and also catch their Voter Engagement Crash Course. And, finally, defense is the best offense. In sports and in nonprofit advocacy. Learn why it’s so important in Advocacy in Action and learn more in today’s Nonprofit Advocacy Matters.

Turns out, making a federal budget deal is easy but deciding how to spend it is hard. Congress only has until the end of September to decide on border spending, the public charge doctrine, and more or face another government shutdown. Can nonprofits promote census engagement? Yes -- so long as they remain nonpartisan so help get out the count in your communities to ensure a fair, accurate, and complete count. State lawmakers are still busy with taxes. Forty states have imposed remote sales tax under Wayfair and Kansas is applying it to all businesses outside the state – regardless of how much is purchased. New Hampshire, on the other hand, is prohibiting other states from imposing sales tax on its residents without notice. Both are expected to be challenged in court. And Oregon and Utah are looking into tax reform for next session already, so there’s no sleep for the weary when it comes to taxes. Today’s Advocacy in Action highlights Habitat for Humanity’s Cost of Home Campaign and how they are using advocacy to secure affordable housing for 10 million individuals.

Congress and the Administration have agreed on a bipartisan budget to get us through the next two years. The bad news is it’s increasing the federal deficit, while providing no nonprofit tax relief. The good news is a government shutdown is unlikely and sequestration is seemingly repealed, reducing strain on non-defense spending. Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York filed a lawsuit against the Treasury and IRS for their regs limiting state tax credits. And a pension crisis in Kentucky is sounding the alarm for nonprofits that sign up for state public retirement and health plans. A new survey put out by Race to Lead is asking nonprofits to answer questions on how people’s identities impact their experiences and perspectives. And it’s August. Time to meet with your elected officials at home! It’s a great opportunity to invite them to come visit your operations and hear about the issues that are affecting your organizations – like the tax on nonprofit transportation benefits, the nonprofit relief act, or a universal charitable deduction. We invite you to watch our Meeting with Policymakers: Back Home Edition and learn more in today’s Nonprofit Advocacy Matters.

The Citizenship Question battle is over. We are thrilled to report the question will not be included on the census form. Nonprofits must now turn to ensuring a fair, accurate, and complete count. Everyone counts, so everyone must be counted. Seven states began the new fiscal year without full budgets. Governors have not been shy to veto budget bills or use line-item veto power to cut programs affecting nonprofits. Alaska is facing a crisis with the Legislature failing to override $440 million in line-item cuts including education, arts, Medicare, scholarship, and transportation programs. Laurie Wolf of The Foraker Group wrote an article all nonprofits facing budget issues should read called: Have Courage. We have put out a 5-minute survey asking nonprofits about budget constraints caused by the tax on nonprofit transportation benefits. Please let us know how the tax affected your mission. And as employers, nonprofits should bring dignity and justice to the workplace. Decent Work is a campaign on how to do so, and even how to sprinkle in some magic with nonprofit unicorns.

The first half of the year ended with a slew of nonprofit policy news items. The House Ways and Means Committee voted to repeal the tax on nonprofit transportation benefits. Read the full text of AdMat to find out what your organization can do to increase the sense of urgency for getting rid of the tax. By now, most people know the Supreme Court ruled that the 2020 Census can’t include a citizenship question unless the Secretary of Commerce comes up with a new, legitimate rationale. In the newsletter and elsewhere, our own Tim Delaney explains what this all means to nonprofits and to the efforts to secure a fair, accurate, and complete count so that everyone counts. The states have also been active, as the newsletter reports. Census funding, tax reforms, and employment law changes are just some of the topics of interest. And today’s Advocacy in Action is all about messaging that moves people to action.

This Wednesday, the House Oversight Subcommittee is holding a hearing on taxing tax exempts and nonprofit transportation benefits. We want to hear from you about how this unfair tax has been hurting your organization. Go to our website to fill out a brief survey. We will be sharing these first-hand stories directly with Congress. Our ask is the same: repeal this taw, now. And these issues are also playing out in the states with Hawaii Governor Ige signing a bill that decouples state unrelated business income tax from federal law. We are still awaiting Illinois’s bill to be enacted. Also on the subject Rep. Maloney is introducing the Nonprofit Relief Act this week, to provide additional help to nonprofits working in their communities. The bill would repeal the UBIT siloing provision, extend the paid family leave tax credit to nonprofits, and makes sure mileage reimbursement is nontaxable. And nonprofits across the country made moves on Capitol Hill last week during our Advocacy Day. Learn more in today’s Nonprofit Advocacy Matters.

The deadline is fast approaching for Congress to reach an agreement on the looming budget crisis. If they fail to come to the table, $126 billion in automatic spending cuts will happen this fall. Nonprofits rely on federal funding to support their communities and need Congress to act quickly. New evidence has been found about the motivation behind the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month and parties are awaiting indication on whether this new evidence will be considered. State legislatures have been making policy changes helping nonprofits. Arizona passed a nonitemizer deduction, so all taxpayers can benefit from giving to charitable nonprofits. The Minnesota Governor signed a bill that decouples state taxes on both nonprofit transportation benefits and on each separate trade or business. Bills to decouple nonprofit transportation benefits await signature in Hawaii and Illinois. And Massachusetts nonprofit human services workers went to a joint committee of the Legislature to tell their stories of how student loan debt was accrued on their path to the work that they love.

Nonprofits are caught between moral support and operational anxiety. The Department of Labor is proposing regulations increasing the threshold for who qualifies as an exempt white-collar employee. The National Council of Nonprofits, along with the Easterseals, National Human Services Assembly, YMCA, and YWCA are taking the opportunity to promote a fix to federal grant policy. Read our comments and analysis and submit your own to the Department by May 21. State legislatures are wrapping up for the year. Tax policy changes and ramped-up census efforts are on the horizon. Prepare now for how these changes will affect you and your organization. Nonprofit Tax Day came and went. For the first time, many tax exempts paid taxes they shouldn’t have had to. Check out #NonprofitTaxDay on how these unfair taxes hurt communities.

Nonprofit Tax Day! That’s right – for the first time EVER many tax-exempt organizations must pay an income tax on expenses by May 15th. A full analysis is linked in today’s newsletter. Be aware of this deadline. Are you a chess master? Tim Delaney has a new article in Nonprofit Quarterly explaining how all nonprofits are in a game of three-dimensional chess. We must be ever vigilant of tax policies in three branches of government on three levels of government and evolving horizontally and vertically. For example, states are still enacting workaround legislation despite looming federal restrictions. Four states passed legislation this year to extend or expand tax credits to incentivize charitable contributions. Next we’ll see how the federal government responds. And, finally, what are nonprofit Lobby Days on the Hill? They’re an opportunity to give REAL people the chance to tell REAL stories to Congress about the REAL world impact of their decisions. Learn more in today’s Nonprofit Advocacy Matters.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. This issue affects every person and every nonprofit in America – whether we will have a fair, accurate, and complete count in the 2020 Census. Check out our brief in the case to understand why this is such a big deal for nonprofits and the people we serve. Legislatures in all fifty states have convened and 20 have already adjourned for the year. Charitable giving incentives, taxing tax exempts, taxes, fees, and PILOTs, and more measures affecting nonprofits were or are still on the table. These measures affect operations, budgets and funding, and advocacy. Learn the ins and outs of what has passed and what’s still in play in today’s newsletter. And BAM! That’s what we’re talking about! Build A Movement – or B – A – M – Exclamation point is all about how to use public policy to achieve your nonprofit mission. Learn more in today’s Nonprofit Advocacy Matters.

In today's AdMat Minute, Tiffany Gourley Carter discusses the 2020 Census - from the amicus brief filed by the National Council of Nonprofits in the Supreme Court case about the citizenship question to lots of state efforts to ensure every person is counted. In addition, she shares news of a report from Representative Maloney and the Joint Economic Committee about the economic impact of the 2017 tax law. And news from the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, which unveiled its Declaration of Nonprofit Rights.

In today's AdMat Minute, Tiffany Gourley Carter shares the latest on the tax on nonprofit transportation benefits and the urgent need to advocate for repeal before tax bills come due, an update on tax issues at the state level - including the potential for New Jersey to create a charitable giving incentive, news of Nonprofit Vote's report on turnout in the 2018 elections, and concludes with an update on nonprofits and the 2020 Census.

In today's edition of the AdMat Minute, Tiffany Gourley Carter discusses the urgency of repealing the transportation tax on nonprofits, the President's budget request, new overtime rules from the Department of Labor, what's happening in the states with 46 state legislatures in session, and the impact of Nonprofit Days at the Capitol.

In this week's AdMat Minute, Tiffany Gourley Carter highlights the urgency around repealing the tax on nonprofit transportation benefits, states taking action to protect against future government shutdowns, efforts in New York to protect nonprofit nonpartisanship, and how state associations of nonprofits are using data to demonstrate nonprofit impact in communities.

The latest on the potential government shutdown, proposed regulations on the transportation tax, and state tax reform efforts.

Tiffany Gourley Carter shares the highlights of the January 28, 2019 edition of Nonprofit Advocacy Matters, including a thank you to nonprofits that stepped up to help their communities during the government shutdown, a call to action to help prevent future shutdowns, a look at the most active year ever in terms of state tax policy, an analysis of what the Wayfair decision means for nonprofits, and a look at nonprofit advocacy during the government shutdown.

In this edition of the AdMat Minute, Tiffany Gourley Carter discusses the partial government shutdown and its effects on nonprofits' ability to serve their communities, the beginning of many state legislative sessions, the Stand for Your Mission awards for nonprofit advocacy, and the 2019 public policy forecast from the National Council of Nonprofits published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Tiffany Gourley Carter, Policy Counsel for the National Council of Nonprofits, describes the highlights of Nonprofit Advocacy Matters and the issues that we cover.

Introducing the AdMat Minute, a one-minute rundown of the top public policy stories affecting nonprofits at the local, state, and federal levels.