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Paperbacks from Volunteering Risk Management Expert Now Available – While They Last!

Submitted by Tristan Dahn
on Tue, 04/24/2012 - 21:34

The Energize Bookstore is pleased to announce that we have back in stock print copies of four of Linda Graff’s books!  A long-term friend of Energize, she is president of Linda Graff and Associates, Inc., based in Ontario, Canada and is internationally acknowledged as the volunteer field's leading expert in risk management issues.   Her books have remained consistent best sellers from our store in e-book format, and there’s a good reason.

June 19, 2011: International News From the Field

Submitted by Susan J Ellis
on Sun, 06/19/2011 - 00:00

19 June: The Wall Street Journal article, "Stray Cat Strut: Woman Beats IRS," captured the importance of the story in its first two sentences:

When Jan Van Dusen appeared before a U.S. Tax Court judge and a team of Internal Revenue Service lawyers more than a year ago, there was more at stake than her tax deduction for taking care of 70 stray cats.

Hanging in the balance were millions of dollars in annual tax deductions by animal-rescue volunteers across the nation—and some needed clarity on the treatment of volunteers' unreimbursed expenses for 1.55 million other IRS-recognized charities.

This volunteer incurred $12,068 in expenses while taking care of stray cats in her home on behalf of the IRS-approved charity, Fix Our Ferals. This covered such things as cat "food, veterinarian bills, litter, a portion of utility bills, and other items such as paper towels and garbage bags." When she attempted to deduct these costs on her 2004 income tax return, the IRS disallowed them and she

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