Nonprofits Ignore Cybersecurity at Their Peril. Here’s How to Stay Safe.
NONPROFIT NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE
A right-wing media network that promotes conspiracies about the 2020 election and coronavirus vaccines continues to solicit tax-deductible donations even though the Internal Revenue Service has revoked its tax-exempt status. The Worldview Weekend Broadcast Network produced a documentary by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell claiming that China changed millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden and that an FDA-approved vaccine “has a higher rate of harm and death” than Covid-19. It is funded through its Worldview Weekend Foundation. The IRS revoked the foundation’s nonprofit status in May for failure to file tax returns for three consecutive years, but the network’s website still assures potential donors that their contributions are tax deductible. Experts said the IRS is unlikely to punish the foundation. A lawyer for the foundation said it filed a return in 2018 but never received an acknowledgment from the agency. He said the foundation is seeking to have its tax-exempt status reinstated retroactively. (CNN)
Some socially minded entrepreneurs are turning to an obscure corporate ownership structure to ensure their companies remain committed to their altruistic goals, even after they’re out of the picture. Perpetual-purpose trusts, pioneered by the Purpose Foundation in Germany in 2015, can, for example, ban the sale of a company or can dictate that community members, employees, and nonprofits share management duties once a founding CEO retires. These structures, which offer an alternative to the corporate imperative to maximize shareholder return, can also help entrepreneurs find investors who will not demand profit at the expense of a company’s mission. With a perpetual-purpose trust, Matt Kreutz was able to get investments to expand his Firebrand Artisan Breads in Oakland, Calif., while ensuring it would still seek to hire people who are typically skipped over for jobs, including formerly incarcerated people. (New Yorker)
More News and Opinion
- Opinion: We Should Be Thankful for the Sackler Family’s Philanthropy (Spectator)
- The Next Abortion Battleground: Campus Health Clinics (Boston Globe)
- Habitat for Humanity Is 3-D-Printing Houses. The First One Is in Va. (Washington Post)
- Nonprofit’s Plan to Develop Land Near Winchester’s Museum of the Shenandoah Valley Triggers Uproar (Washington Post)
- Covid-Positive Museum Workers in D.C. Are Afraid to Call In Sick, Union President Says (WUSA)
- Obituary: Louis Simpson, Savvy Investor Whose $92 Million Gift Funded a Biomedical Research Center at Northwestern (Chicago Tribune)
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