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INDEX OF LAWS INDEX OF LAWS

 

Deductible Charitable Donations

Reduced Postal Rates


Go to the comprehensive discussion on the Employment Laws page of this website

 

 

Document Retention & Destruction

Whistleblower Protection

 

 

 

 

Because most of the federal laws that deal with charities are in the Internal Revenue Code and are administered and enforced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), you will find most of the information on federal laws on the IRS Rules page of this website.


 

 

Deductible Charitable Donations

 

Once a charity obtains recognition from the IRS as a charitable tax exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the organization can enjoy a number of benefits, such as:

 

  • The organization pays no tax on income obtained from their exempt activities.
  • Donors may deduct contributions on their personal tax forms, if they itemize deductions, creating a huge incentive to donate.
  • Pamphlets, newsletters, merchandise, and fundraising letters qualify for reduced postal rates.  For more information on this benefit go to the page of this website that discusses IRS Rules.

 

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Reduced Postal Rates


Pamphlets, newsletters, merchandise and fundraising letters qualify for reduced postal rates. Fees may apply if the organization wishes to do bulk mailings for reduced postage.  Go to the United States Postal Service, Business Mail 101 website for explanations of what organizations and what mailings qualify for lower rates.  On the site, you will find links to the form to apply for lower rates, eligibility rules, and other helpful information. 

 

For information on eligibility for nonprofit postage rates, you may also go to Publication 417.

 

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The United States Copyright Office has an excellent website. If you are new to this issue, you may want to begin with the Copyright Basics page of the website for information on how to claim rights to material, when registration is warranted, and a number of related issues. Because copyright and trademark law are complicated areas of law, we recommend obtaining your own legal counsel to help apply the law to specific circumstances.

 

For information on trademarks, go to the Office of Trademarks website, or you may link to that and other information on the website for the Office of Patents and Trademarks. Also, this link to Frequently Asked Questions on the United States Office of Patents and Trademarks Office website may provide some guidance regarding definitions and links for locating information.

 

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Click to go to the comprehensive list of IRS Rules.

 

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Go to the comprehensive discussion of Employment Laws.

 

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Federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997

While federal law does not, in general, regulate volunteers (their use or activities), there may be some limitations or rules required by certain federal grants or contracts. The Volunteer Protection Act provides some limited liability protection for volunteers, but charities and volunteers should be aware of the limitations of this act. The website for the Office of the Civilian Medical Reserve Corps provides more information.

 

For more information and resources on setting policies, go to the MNA online bookstore, www.boardsource.org and www.managementhelp.org.

 

Valuing Volunteer Time

How an organization values volunteer time is determined by audit standards used by the organization. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) allow nonprofits to recognize only certain kinds of volunteer contributions. For an organization to report contributed services in its financial reports, it must:
 

  • Be a service the organization would have to purchase if not provided by a volunteer;
  • Require specialized skills; and
  • Be provided by those who have those special skills, such as attorneys, accountants, doctors, teachers or other professional or craftspeople.

 

Independent Sector provides resources to help value volunteer contributions, but these resources should be used only in consultation with the charity's auditor if they are to be used in IRS filings or other filings required by law.

 

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While the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have significant and far-reaching legal impact on for-profit publicly-traded companies, and many of the provisions can provide guidance to charities on good practices to implement, only two of the provisions have direct legal implications for charities: document retention and destruction policies & whistleblower protection policies.

 

Document Retention

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act makes it a federal crime to destroy, conceal or alter documents that are, or may be, the subject of a federal investigation or litigation. This provision makes it extremely important for charities to implement document retention and destruction policies. Such a policy that is consistently followed will help protect a charity from charges that documents were indiscriminately destroyed, or destroyed to prevent disclosure.

 

Whistleblower Protection

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act makes it a federal crime to retaliate against employees who report fraudulent activities within the organization.

 

An article done by Independent Sector and Boardsource, Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Implications for Nonprofit Organizations, provides a more complete discussion of the Act. The National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) also offers discussions of Sarbanes-Oxley,and the Alliance for Nonprofit Management website has an article providing guidance on Sarbanes-Oxley.


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For a list of laws that cover specific issues, go to the Index of Laws page of this website.


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