Enhancing USAspending
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has brought unprecedented public attention to federal grantmaking and contracting, which in turn has led many Americans to the government’s online database for federal…
Form 990
A Conversation with the Capital Research Center’s Robert Stilson (Part 2 of 2)
In considering any reform of fiscal sponsorship, “I think there’s a balance you have to strike,” Stilson tells me. “I’m not saying that fiscal sponsorship should be restricted meaningfully” or…
Thinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: Purpose and Politics
On the surface, fiscally sponsored projects can look and act just like independent nonprofits. Some weigh in on controversial sociopolitical issues and affect associated public policy debates. Unlike standalone nonprofits,…
Thinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: Pop Ups and Perpetuity
Countless nonprofits engage in political or public policy activism on controversial matters, and some do so from radical perspectives. But fiscal sponsorship raises some unique issues that are not present…
Thinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: The Form 990 Black Hole
IRS Form 990, an annual return that most nonprofits are required to file with the IRS, provides considerable detail about the filing nonprofit’s financials, leadership, activities, and more. But Form…
Thinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: Potential Reforms
On the one hand, fiscal sponsorship is a common and legitimate arrangement that can provide important benefits to small and/or new tax-exempt ventures. At the same time, some issues—particularly with…
Foreign Grants: The Darkest of “Dark Money”
New tax filings reveal tens of millions of dollars in “dark money” flowing from the massive nonprofit network managed by the consulting firm Arabella Advisors. But it’s not of…
InfluenceWatch Episode #317: Disclosing Foreign Grantmaking
What efforts are American nonprofits funding overseas? By and large, we don’t know, and federal disclosure laws are no help because they don’t require American nonprofits (other than private foundations)…
The Need for Foreign Grant Disclosure by Nonprofits
The nonprofit sector has a major transparency problem—one that is aptly illustrated by the network of foundations and other nonprofits linked to pro-China megadonor Neville Roy Singham and his wife…
Require Nonprofits to Disclose Their Foreign Grantmaking
Currently, nonprofits are required to publicly identify their domestic grant recipients, but not their foreign ones. This should not be the case—all grantees should be disclosed—but the Internal Revenue Service…