Freddie Mac CEO Steps Down

Reuters is reporting that Freddie Mac’s CEO, Charles Haldeman Jr, will step down by the end of the year. He will remain at Freddie Mac until a new CEO is hired. Haldeman was hired in July 2009 in the hopes that new leadership would help usher in stability to the housing market and the company.

Rallying cry in the argument against ending the charitable deduction

The Nonprofit Quarterly has been exploring both sides of the issue currently before congress regarding whether or not to cut the charitable deduction. In a post yesterday, they sent out what is essentially a rallying cry for the nonprofit community to join together and raise a collective voice against cutting the charitable tax deduction.

The article does a good job of cutting through what it calls “distracting clutter” around the bill and its potential effects and provides “boots-on-the-ground” examples of how local community based organizations would suffer if congress does away with the deduction. The best solution, the article posits, is a collective voice in the form of a nonprofit community letter to congress available through the National Council of Nonprofits’ website. As of Monday, more than a dozen national nonprofits and over 2,700 community-based nonprofits have signed on.

The article ends with this statement: “We encourage other nonprofits to quickly join this time-sensitive, growing grassroots campaign to remind Congress that the nonprofit community is relevant and that governments at all levels and people across America are relying on nonprofits—human services as well as arts, cultural, education, environmental, faith-based, and health care organizations, etc.—to improve lives in local communities.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me: ‘I’m satisfied’” *

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has an article posted yesterday that reveals survey results indicating the nonprofit workforce is unsatisfied. 70% of the workers surveyed in the New York and Washington metro regions reported being disappointed or only somewhat fulfilled with their work.

The employees are giving a lack of “respect, trust and support by management” and lack of recognition for their efforts as the reason behind their dissatisfaction. In addition, due to ongoing economic hardships, many of the employees have suffered pay-cuts and watched their budgets dwindle. Internal office politics also showed up as a problem in survey results.

 The president of Professionals for NonProfits, Gayle Brandel, was quoted as saying “the cost of employee disengagement and poor performance is very high, as is the cost of turnover. ..the price an organization pays for disengaged staff can be staggering.” The survey results are available on the Professionals for NonProfit website.

Not all of it is bad news: the article ends on a high note saying 60% of the participants in the survey say they are optimistic for the future.

*The title of this post is a lyric from The Replacements – Unsatisfied.

IRS Issues New Guidance for Church Plan Determination Letters

The IRS has issued Revenue Procedure 2011-44 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-11-44.pdf which modifies the procedures for requesting a determination letter for a retirement plan of a church.  The new rule requires that the plan participants and other interested parties must be notified of the determination letter request, and the notification must be included with the request to the IRS.

Ministers’ Housing Allowance Challenged Again

On September 13, the Freedom from Religious Foundation (FFRF) filed a new case seeking a declaration that the housing allowance for ministers is unconstitutional.  Their argument includes that the individual plaintiffs, FFRF officers in this case, are receiving housing allowances from FFRF that do not qualify for the same tax status as they would if they were clergy.  Read the full article published by the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

The End of Freddie and Fannie

According to the Washington Post, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Foundation will be discontinuing their philanthropy by the year 2015. Established as quasi-governmental housing financiers, the foundations gave away nearly $100 million just in the last four years. Fannie Mae also plans to discontinue the Help the Homeless walkathon on the Mall, ending the long-standing tradition after this year’s Nov. 19th event.

The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington is predicting tough times ahead and starting the drive to get individuals and corporations to help fill the void. Its executive director, Chuck Bean, was quoted as saying, “it is going to hurt, and at some point we’re going to need to stop wringing our hands and figure out what we’re going to do.” The impact on the greater Washington area will no doubt be significant although Bean is taking an optimistic approach and believes it’s an opportunity for other nonprofits to step up and really shine.  Read the roundtable’s report and analysis on the regional impact here.