Welcome to your daily briefing on nonprofit developments in Connecticut. Today we're covering 6 key stories including updates on connecticut nonprofit headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
3 stories
Arts for Learning Connecticut received a $1,750 grant from the Chelsea Groton Foundation to fund arts-integrated programming at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London.
For CT nonprofit professionals, this illustrates how smaller local grants can directly support arts education initiatives through school-based partnerships in CT.
The Connecticut Community Foundation page for 2025 Grants lists award topics including Arts and Culture, Building Equitable Opportunity, Grassroots Leadership, Health and Environmental Justice, the Lois Livingston McMillen Fund, the Herbst Fund for Eye Research, and a Pathways for category.
For Connecticut nonprofit professionals, this gives a current view of where a major CT funder is directing support and the program buckets to target.
The source is a listing of current grant opportunities from the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation.
This is directly relevant to CT nonprofit professionals seeking local funding opportunities to support programs, staffing, and community impact.
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3 stories
Unrelated business income tax applies when an activity is regularly carried on, is a trade or business, and is not substantially related to the exempt purpose. Common surprises: corporate-sponsored events with naming rights that look like advertising, affinity credit-card royalties that include co-marketing services, and gift-shop sales of items unrelated to the mission.
UBIT exposure can cost both tax and exempt status if the unrelated business becomes substantial. The line between sponsorship (excluded) and advertising (included) is narrow and case-specific.
The streamlined Form 1023-EZ is available only to organizations meeting specific limits on projected revenue, assets, and activity types. Filing 1023-EZ when ineligible produces a determination that is technically valid but vulnerable to retroactive revocation if discovered. The full 1023 is harder to file but harder to challenge.
Loss of exemption is retroactive to the original determination, exposing the organization to back-tax liability. The eligibility checklist is the only protection.
Donor-restricted gifts must be tracked separately and used only for the restricted purpose; using them for general operations — even with intent to "pay back" later — is a fiduciary breach and an audit finding. The most-common fact pattern: cash-flow shortage in operations, restricted-grant balance available, transfer "borrowed" with no formal repayment plan.
State attorneys general have authority over restricted-gift compliance and have pursued individual board members and executives. Auditors are required to disclose restricted-fund violations in the management letter.
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