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Memo to Members, March 27, 2002 |
A copy of the proclamation is posted at http://www.tess.org/misc/02.proc.html.
I hope you'll find some place to post this token of recognition for the contributions nonprofits make to the communities and people of Washington state.
Along with the nonprofit graduate programs at the University of Washington and Seattle University, The Evergreen State Society is organizing a reception to celebrate the start of Nonprofit Service Month on Monday night (April 1) in the Alki Room at the Seattle Center. You should have received an invitation in the mail. Response has been good; this should be a cheerful and lively occasion. The reception is supported by the sponsors of the Nonprofit Leadership Conference and is free though an rsvp is required (and beer and wine will be for sale while softdrinks are gratis).
Our thanks to Bank of America, the Medina Foundation, the Seattle Foundation and British Petroleum (Gold Sponsors) and Moss Adams, Davis Wright Tremain and Clark Nuber (Silver Sponsors) for helping make this event a success.
Tonight we'll be having another of our Schmoozefests at Town Hall. The Schmoozefest is Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event, a chance to get together to meet new people and chat with friends from the nonprofit sector. Our guest tonight will be Ted Lord of the NW Giving Project. The Schmoozefest is sponsored in part by Bryan R. Boender & Scott A. Ventoza, Merrill Lynch Financial Advisors. Drop by Town Hall, 8th and Seneca in downtown Seattle, any time between 5 and 8 (a brief introduction of Ted Lord will take place about 6). There is no charge, though donations are definitely welcome.
More information about the Schmoozefest is available from http://www.npsfest.org/.
The Legislature passed (unanimously!) and Governor Locke has signed House Bill 2313 making small but significant changes in Washington's Charitable Solicitations Act. You can find the complete text of the bill at http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2001-02/House/2300-2324/2313_pl_03082002.txt
Probably the most important feature of HB 2313 is that it permits the Secretary of State to establish standards and set up procedures for electronic filing of documents related to nonprofit corporations.
Probably the most welcome feature (for those to whom it applies) is that registration and reporting filings under the Charitable Solicitations Act (RCW 19.09) will no longer need to be notarized!
Jossey-Bass has published volume 31 in Indiana University's series "New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising" under the above title. Seven leaders in the field contributed chapters ranging broadly across the topic. I am the editor.
You can read more about the book, see the authors' names (click on the table
of contents link) and order a copy at Accountability: A Challenge for Charities and Fundraisers: New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising #31.
On a related theme, I will be moderating a plenary session on "accountability" at the ARNOVA conference in Montreal next November. (The acronym stands for Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action; see the website http://www.arnova.org/.)
I've been invited to serve as an advisor to the American Law Institute's five-year project to draft a statement of "Principles of the Law of Nonprofit Organizations." The first meeting of the group will be in June; I'll know more after that about how this project will proceed. It should be very interesting.
I have also been invited to join the group (convened by the National Center for Charitable Statistics of the Urban Institute) that is advising the federal government on the development of an "e-grants" system that might allow use of a standard online form to make proposals and respond to RFPs from federal, state and local agencies. The Urban Institute is interested in talking with private foundations as well in the hope that consistent approaches can be adopted, and in extending the project to include follow-up filings of required financial and other reports. This will be, I predict, a long and complicated discussion.
And lastly, I will be attending this year's consultation between the Exempt Organizations Division of the IRS and representatives of the nonprofit sector where suggestions for improvements, revisions and other changes in the Form 990 are open for discussion. I'm told that one of the ideas I submitted last year in writing is now under active consideration, which is gratifying. That meeting will happen in early May. Your ideas about topics that should be on the table for discussion will be very welcome.
(The suggestion I made was that there should be a simple way to adjust the financial figures in parts I and II to generate the "cash basis" entries for the Public Support Test in Schedule A. The accounting pros who work with this group say they have come up with a procedure for doing that which is being looked at carefully by the IRS and the AICPA. Let's keep our fingers crossed.)
Thanks for your interest and support,
Putnam Barber, President
The Evergreen State Society
PO Box 20682Seattle, WA 98102-0682
206 329-5640 :: pbarber@tess.org