The public is understandably confused about why their local country club might be a tax-exempt entity.

At a recent “legislative coffee,” Tenn. State. Rep. Bill Sanderson discussed his plan to introduce a bill that would give low-profit limited liability corporations tax exemptions.

A new Panera Cares Café, the fifth in the nation, has opened in Boston. The Panera Foundation’s “pay what you can” restaurant had a strong opening day.

The tax-exempt NFL’s minority recruitment and hiring process seems to have stumbled, having been tackled for a loss measured not in yards, but in the diversity of the NFL’s coaches.

The Mississippi legislature is considering a bill mandating that charter schools be run only by nonprofits, but is this just smokescreen to allow for-profit contractors under the tent?

In its negotiations with Santa Clara, Calif. about potentially hosting a future Super Bowl, the tax-exempt NFL looks less like a trade association and more like a for-profit business.

Are there some fields in which nonprofits are the preferable form of enterprise? A growing number of people say health care may be a prime example.

As it seeks “to be a political player in a positive way” so as to “have a greater voice for philanthropy,” where has the Association of Fundraising Professionals directed its PAC money?

Does the NFL—despite a limited membership of mostly billion dollar teams and billionaire owners—deserve a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status like any other association?

Ice cream company Ben and Jerry’s is the first subsidiary of a publicly traded company to become a certified B corporation.

Among the list of examples of government spending that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) considers suspect is the tax exemption given to the National Football League and other sports associations.

A new report by the Center for the Theater Commons at Emerson College, “In the Intersection: Partnerships in the New Play Sector,” examines commercial and nonprofit theater collaboration.

A new Consumer Reports survey finds that the top private health care plans in the U.S. are run by nonprofit organizations.

VOICES FROM THE FIELD

Is the notion of so-called “strategic philanthropy,” in all of its beguiling forms, a very powerful accomplice in transforming the funding ecology and structure of the nonprofit sector?

Michael Edwards’ Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World is a critical response to philanthrocapitalism and a must-read for anyone working in the nonprofit sector.

In searching for the explanation behind Blue Cross Blue Shield’s dismissal of a recent CEO, a Star Tribune columnist assumes that the fault lies in a for-profit/nonprofit “culture clash.” Maybe not.

El Paso’s nonprofit Newspaper Tree has fired its publisher and editor. The board is silent, but the case spotlights the often rocky path that the nonprofit avenue for resuscitating journalism faces.

State fairs run by government agencies and nonprofits are facing budget troubles, and for-profit investors are stepping in—but will they change the culture of the state fair in the process?

The governance of the publicly owned Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio has been transferred to a nonprofit that will distribute funds as “a private entity.”

Seven states now recognize the B corporation, an entity that acknowledges responsibilities to society beyond maximizing profit, but who or what will monitor their activity?

Between legal attacks from the Koch brothers and uncertainty over its tax-exempt status with the IRS, the libertarian Cato Institute may need to adopt the stoicism of its namesake.

Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, says that a strong business sector is vitally important to this country. But so is a strong government. And a strong—and actually independent—independent sector. Now, as we learn that many corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes, Buchanan argues that it would be a good time to hear those independent-sector voices.