Ohio Issues New, Less Onerous, Draft Of Charity Reporting Rules

After input from many charitable organizations, Ohio’s Attorney General Jim Petro announced the filing of a second draft of proposed rules for charitable organizations that back off of many of the provisions that would have pressed larger charities to adopt specific "best practices" provisions that were in the Attorney General’s earlier proposal. (See prior posting.) The new draft would create a 9-member Charitable Advisory Council to recommend to the Attorney General model policies, training and education programs related to the fiduciary responsibilities of Ohio’s charities. As to fiduciary standards, the new draft merely calls for the collection of additional information in charities’ annual reports to the Attorney General. That additional information relates to compensation, conflicts of interest and loans to executives. Also additional data on billing and debt collection policies by charitable hospitals and nursing homes would be called for. Finally, charities would be permitted to file their IRS Form 990 instead of the new report called for the Ohio’s rules. However, the Attorney General suggested that charities filing Ohio’s form instead of their 990 "will find that they improve public and donor confidence." [Thanks to Ohio Jewish Communities Friday Report for the information.]