Tips to Understanding an IRS Form 990
Most charitable organizations exempt from income tax under Section 501 are required to file an IRS Form 990, which details financial, management, program, and fundraising information. These returns can often be hundreds of pages long which can be overwhelming to potential donors who are trying to understand where charitable dollars are spent. Although all of the information is important, there are key pieces of information to focus on if time is limited. With that in mind, here are 13 tips to gain a quick understanding of a non-profit. Read more 
Amy and Isabelle
Because if everyone just turns out like their mother, then what’s the rat’s-ass point?”
Elizabeth Strout is one of the few writers who has mastered the art of writing about difficult women we loathe but love to read about. In her Pulitzer-prize winning novel, Olive Kitteridge (2009), Strout gave us an opinionated, forthright, bossy, cantankerous, and self-righteous protagonist (Olive Kitteridge) who was also loyal, honest, and conscientious. Most readers identified in some way with Olive Kitteridge – the school teacher, the wife of the local pharmacist, and the mother who loved imperfectly – but felt relieved the similarities only went so far. Read more
Nuttzo® Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Squares
When I was young I could never decide which was better: chocolate chip, peanut butter, or oatmeal cookie dough. When I grew up I still couldn’t decide if one was truly better than the other so after contemplating this dilemma for the better part of five decades, I had this breakthrough moment where I thought why not combine all three to make the ultimate cookie dough snack treat. Read more
Black Beans, Kale, and Plantains: Soft Tacos or Bowls
Ordinary tacos or bowls can become ho-hum so when it’s time to spice things up a bit, consider making soft tacos or bowls with black beans, kale, and plantains. Add the usual toppings – chopped, sweet multi-colored tomatoes and chunky guacamole – for flavor, color, and pizzazz and consider sprinkling pumpkin seeds on the tops of the bowls or tacos for an added crunch (I use activated sprouted salted pumpkin seeds but some people prefer the unsalted variety and that’s just fine). Read more
Where Does $100 to the ALS Association Go?
The ALS Association was chugging along raising about $25 million a year when the Ice Challenge video went viral a few years ago and brought in $115 million in donations to the organization. Before the windfall, the ALS Association had about $20 million in net fund assets. According to the IRS Form 990 (2016) for the year ending January 31, 2017, the organization now has just over $100 million in net fund assets (they haven’t spent all the donations from the Ice Challenge yet) and raised nearly $31 million (compared to about $25 million the year before) this past year. Read more
The Return
The country that separates fathers and sons has disoriented many travelers.
Many Americans associate Libya with the September 11, 2012 uprising in Benghazi where Islamic militants attacked the American consulate killing the US Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens and three others. To better understand Libya and the historical events that define its tumultuous past, it is helpful to know the following: Read more
French Broad Chocolates: The Buddha Collection
French Broad Chocolates – an Asheville, North Carolina-based company that includes a chocolate factory, a chocolate bar library (French Broad Chocolate Boutique), and a dessert restaurant (French Broad Chocolate Lounge) in the heart of downtown – also makes the most decadent, beautiful, and scrumptious chocolates called The Buddha Collection. With no dairy, gluten, soy, nuts, eggs, or corn syrup, The Buddha Collection is beloved by vegans and omnivores alike. Read more
Harvest Veggie Roast
Every Autumn (in most states), the leaves on the trees seem to explode in a rainbow of reds, yellows, oranges, and browns. But, enjoying the array of color is not limited to outdoors. Vegetables – particularly root and squash varieties – are plentiful so consider making a Harvest Veggie Roast in your kitchen. Golden potatoes and orange carrots combined with purple cauliflower adds just the right amount of boldness in color and flavor to this roasted vegetable dish. Read more
Where Does $100 to the American Heart Association Go?
The American Heart Association (AHA) is one of the most popular and recognized non-profits in the United States with enormous public support as evidenced by the $830 million raised last year. That the AHA also has nearly a billion dollars in their net fund balance is also noteworthy.
By most accounts, this organization is a magnet for public contributions and an expert at raising and saving money. But, are they accomplishing their mission, which is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke? With heart disease the number one cause of death in the United States for decades, one has to wonder if all the contributions to the AHA are really helping to prevent and reverse heart disease? Read more
Evicted
In 2016, Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond published Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (Evicted) – the story of eight families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction in 2017, the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award, the 2017 Pen/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal, and more, Evicted is the emotional and heartbreaking story of what happens when people are evicted from their homes. As the author points out, it’s not just the roof over their heads that’s lost, but also a neighborhood, friends, schools, and a sense of safety and personal dignity. Read more
Paddock Post 