New 990: Part VI- June 28, 2008 Part VI of the core of the new Form 990 for exempt organizations requests information about policies regarding governance, management, and disclosure. This information isn't required by the Internal Revenue Code, but the responses will flow through the 990 to guidestar.org and other Web locations. This is the aspect of the new form that will change the world for some non-profits and their funders. Nothing prevents an organization from giving the "wrong" answer to a question or from providing a..http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/new-990-part-vi.html New Requirements for Public Disclosure by Non-Profits- June 27, 2008 With the first tax-exempt returns for a fiscal year starting in 2008, new forms will be used and new standards will apply. This is the long-awaited step forward in transparency and board accountability we've been waiting for. There's an excellent summary of the issues on Patterson Belknap's Web site here.http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/new-requirements-for-public-disclosure.html Taking a Meeting with the FCC- June 21, 2008 FCC staff met with representatives of Verizon Wireless and Rural Cellular (Unicel) last Tuesday (June 17) to go over the Department of Justice proposed Final Judgment settling the objections to the sale.Presumably this process is winding down. Could it be in place by July 11 to roll out the new iPhonehttp://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/taking-meeting-with-fcc.html Movement on VerizonUnicel- June 16, 2008 This is an 84-page PDF containing a cover letter from Verizon's attorneys and supporting documents. The Department of Justice has cleared the Rural Cellular (Unicel)Verizon transaction subject to Verizon's divestiture of some wireless properties (this is the VermontPlattsburgh Unicel service that will presumably be traded to AT&T...hence the iPhone). This much has been reported in the local press.I haven't seen the documents in this FCC filing linked here reported on. Perhaps most important is.http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/movement-on-verizonunicel.html More on iPhone...- June 9, 2008 Apple announced that the new 3G iPhone will be available July 11. It will be $199 (8GB) and $299 (16GB). I assume we may have to wait for 3G coverage in this region, but perhaps by then we'll have something.http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/more-on-iphone.html Columbia County Board of Elections Site- June 9, 2008 Just in time for this morning's Roundtable discussion of politics and the Web, the Register-Star (Hudson) announces the Columbia County Board of Elections Site. They get credit for doing it, and extra credit for accidentally doing it just when we're talking about these issues.The results for previous elections are posted as PDF files, which means these aren't live data feeds--probably not bad for a BOE because the local media should be picking up non-final results as they come.Anyone else have..http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/columbia-county-board-of-elections-site.html Roundtable, Monday 69, 11 AM- June 8, 2008 It's that time of month again. This month, we'll be talking about political Web sites, and how they reflect on politicians. Some are great, some are not so great. Question: can a politician who doesn't understand the Web be trusted to provide leadership on public matters that include today's technology We're not suggesting politicians sit down and write code, but they should give us reason to trust their technological judgment as it will apply to the matters of the day.This notion got a bit out.http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/roundtable-monday-69-11-am.html Still Waiting for the FCC- June 5, 2008 Alas, the rumored June 2 date for the great switch has come and gone. The FCC is silent on the VerizonUnicel transaction (the Web page hasn't been updated for a month, and the annotated timeline has never been updated).Still, AT&T shows coverage for the city of Plattsburgh. This may be related to the announcement this week that AT&T is continuing to roll out higher-speed 3G technology. And that one may be related to the consensus that Apple's World Wide Developer Conference on Monday will...http://www.northcountryconsulting.com/2008/06/still-waiting-for-fcc.html |