A tax case way out in the outer limits, one that makes regulators irritated, is getting more attention.
Article in the Money & Investing section of the Wall Street Journal discussed the Phil Driscoll tax case: Tax Break for Clergy Questioned
Some background: Christian artist Phil Driscoll won a battle with the IRS. On one hand, the details don’t seem too outlandish.
SpaceX will launch it’s first space shot on a resupply flight to the space station in late November. NASA gave technical approval to the launch.
Why is this discussion in a blog about nonprofit issues? Three reasons.
First, is a superb illustration of stretching our brains. In the nonprofit sector we need to be intentionally thinking about the future. See my discussions here, here, here, here, here, and here. Just the idea of private space flights will stretch our brain.
Most states have some sort of registration requirement when an NPO outside that state get money from people inside that state. For a one-paragraph intro to the charitable solicitation issue, visit State Registration for Charities & Religious Organizations at TheMinistryBlog.
Contact any CPA who works with NPOs for more details.
What could a teenager working minimum wage 60 years ago buy with his summer earnings compared to now?
Mark Perry has a calculation at his blog Carpe Diem: Young Americans: Luckiest Generation in History:
Here is the short version:
1952 after working for the summer, a teen could buy:
2011, after working the summer, a teen could buy the functionally equivalent items as 1952:
Plus in 2011 our hypothetical teen still would have enough money left over at the end of the summer to buy some bonus stuff on top of matching types of things from 1952: (more…)
(cross-post from my other blog, Attestation Update)
Looked at my settings. Much to my surprise, I found out I had opted-in to have my name and photo included in ads for products. Might be worth checking your settings.
First tidbit – social ads. Technique of using your photo and name on ads shown to people in your network for items that you have recommended or followed.
Second tidbit – you have to opt-out of social ads.
How?
I’m developing a post on the functional allocation issue. Particularly how expensive it is to conduct ministry in the American cultural context. Part of that discussion will be analogies to the “overhead” it takes the US military to accomplish its mission.
As a lead-in to that idea, consider the following blog post by Jasmine Lee, a photographer who went on a KC-10 flight to refuel some C-17s and the Thunderbird flight demonstration team.
U.S. Air Force Media Flight – Travis Air Force Base… Part I
Some really cool pictures. A good photographer, decent equipment, flight of F-16s, a tanker to put you 100 feet from said flight, and awe-inspiring skill of the USAF crews combined to produce fabulous photos.
Also an amazing 37 second video of an F-16 sliding into position to draw fuel.
As you look at the pix, consider the amount of effort that is behind the scenes.
John Bredehoft has a creative two-part post comparing technology in 2011 and 1981. Focus is on the change in portability – the ease of getting news anywhere and being able to reach someone anywhere.
What if modern portability existed, or didn’t exist, 30 years ago?
More on changes in portability
Communication then:
Previously looked at a visual comparing US states to other countries. This visual compares metropolitan areas to countries.
If U.S. Cities Were Countries, How Would They Rank?
A few tidbits from the article:
You already know you really need to get your most critical data backed up. Losing all your ministry data or donor information could destroy your ministry.
But backup is such a hassle.
Here are eight online services that allow you to do backups out on the net. That makes it a lot easier and makes your data a lot safer.
Whether you serve in a church or ministry, having your staff use social ministry to communicate is a very good thing. The social media tools available today are easy, cheap, effective, and far-reaching. It is fascinating to think how easy it is to communicate with your audience.
Just like everything else in life, there is a downside.
Your Church Blog points out a few things we should be careful of:
Recently learned about another organization that provides very low-cost software to nonprofit organizations.
If you want to get really, really low prices on your basic software, check out these outfits:
Don Boudreaux has a fantastic PowerPoint presentation posted at Café Hayek: Stagnating Middle-Class? It is from a presentation he gave at Cato University.
He opened up a 1974/1975 Sears catalogue. He then calculated how many hours a person would have to work to buy something in 1975 compared to buying a similar item today.
To make the comparison he obtained the hourly wage of an average non-supervisory employee in 1975 and the same average wage today. Those average wages are $4.87 in 1975 and $19.00 today.
For example, in 1975, a 35mm SLR camera, pretty nice for back then, was $347. That is 71.3 hours work for an average worker. In contrast, a Nikon Coolpix 12.0 mp camera today is 4.8 hours of labor.
How to combine the idea of opportunity cost, cul-de-sac, and government overruns in one post?
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal editorial (behind paywall) says:
When it was first conceived, the shuttle was supposed to be a kind of space truck, going into orbit 50 to 75 times a year and carrying large payloads at a cost of $54 million a launch in 2011 dollars. It didn’t work out that way. The shuttle went aloft an average of five times a year. The cost-per-launch averaged some $1.5 billion. Its heaviest payloads barely exceeded what an unmanned Delta IV rocket can carry.
Let’s do some math, shall we?
A colleague of mine needed an employer identification number for a new entity. Did a Google search and went to the first source listed. Wasn’t until the process was almost done that the website asked for a credit card. At that point my colleague realized there was something wrong and did not pay $150. My colleague backed out of that place, went to the IRS website and got an EIN for free.
There are websites out there that will charge you for what you can do for free.
