Followup on the IRS questions about nonprofits' use of the Internet

OMBWatcher reported that the IRS received over 4,000 responses to the request for comments in "Notice 2000-84." There are no plans to issue new guidance during 2001 on the topics raised in the Notice.

(For background, see http://www.nonprofits.org/bulletins/010214.html; to see the current issue of OMBWatcher, visit http://www.ombwatch.org/ombwatcher/)

Email or Websites?

Michael Gilbert inspired a good deal of spirited discussion when he published his "Email Manifesto" (see http://www.gilbert.org/news/features/feature0025.html). The opening line is "Repeat after me: "Email is more important than my web site!"

The point, of course, is that these forms of communication are not rivals, but complements. The question is where to make investments in thought, time and creativity. Michael Stein, for example, urges "Combining Web and E-Mail For Online Fundraising Success" at http://www.michaelstein.net/web-and-email.html.

Several of the responses came from people who feel (as I do, many days of the week) that they already get too much email. These writers wonder whether there will come a day when incoming communications, even from trusted and admired nonprofits, simply cannot command attention. Jeanne Hibbard said it concisely: "There are probably limits to how many e-mails people are willing to read. If you are close to your threshold, my apologies for adding one more to your box!"

One place where there's evidence that email doesn't work very well is in communicating with elected officials. The Congress Online Project reports that our representatives in Congress get so much email they can't cope with it and consequently ignore it. Last year, some 80 million email messages were sent to Congress. The report is at: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/email.html.

Sadly, too many of these emails are sent without much thought in response to newsflashes and "action alerts." Email should be a useful tool for serious political communications, but it will take a while for elected officials to figure out ways to encourage its use for enhanced dialog in spite of the all-too-obvious temptations to fire off email to a long "cc" list at the drop of a send key.

Resources for Fundraising Online

I continue to maintain the long file I've been building since 1999 at http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/misc/990804olfr.html. It contains several hundred thumbnails for online services that fall roughly within the scope of its title. In spite of the recent suggestions that online fundraising is growing much more slowly than some entrepreneurs hoped, there is still a lot of energy being brought to bear on making it all work.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals has developed some principles for an "E-donor's Bill of Rights" -- to complement their familiar "Donor's Bill of Rights." (AFP is the new name for the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, adopted earlier this year.) To see the work in progress, visit http://www.nsfre.org/tier3_cd.cfm?folder_id=867&content_item_id=1247.

Historical Notes on Estate Taxation

For those who enjoy taking the long view of political debates, Peter Dobkin Hall of Harvard has assembled some key texts from the discussions about estate taxes at the end of the 19th century. See http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~.phall.hauser.ksg/responsiblewealth.html

Putnam Barber April 19, 2001