nonprofit

Encouraging Charitable Donors to Include You in Their Estate Plans

Even if current donations are your not-for-profit’s bread and butter, you can’t afford to neglect planned, legacy or deferred gifts. These gifts, generally made through wills and living trusts, often…

3 Tips for Making the Financial Statement Auditing Process Smoother for Nonprofits

Nonprofits aren’t required to produce audited financial statements. But audited statements are more likely to reassure big donors and grantmakers about your financial stability and will generally be required if…

Why Uncertainty Calls for a More Flexible Budget

Economic, social and political events in 2024 have the potential to negatively influence your not-for-profit’s budget. So if you generally prepare static budgets well in advance of each fiscal year,…

Got Independent Contractors? Get to Know Form W-9

If your not-for-profit is perpetually shorthanded, you may have decided to engage independent contractors or freelancers to pick up some of the slack. Just make sure you’re collecting the right…

Going Global: How Your Nonprofit Can Navigate Potential Obstacles

If your not-for-profit’s 2024 plans include international expansion, take care. Rules that apply to U.S.-based nonprofit activities — such as soliciting donations, recruiting members, hiring employees and selling products —…

Don’t Ignore Outside Auditors’ Findings

Has your nonprofit had an outside audit recently? If so, did your organization act on the findings? The cost of not responding to audit results can be steep. Read on…

Maintaining Your Tax-Exempt Status

Tax-exempt status isn’t necessarily forever. It may not happen frequently, but the IRS does revoke the status when nonprofits engage in substantial disqualifying or nonexempt activities. In fact, the agency…

News for Nonprofits: Winter 2024

Will the U.S. Senate streamline the grant process? A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in July 2023 would help simplify the administration of grant programs across the federal…

Avoiding Excess Benefit Transactions: The Pitfalls of Dealing With Disqualified Persons

The IRS has released new guidance on excess benefit transactions (EBTs). So-called disqualified persons and organization managers who engage in such transactions with nonprofits face stiff excise taxes — also…

When Are Sponsorship and Advertising Payments Subject to Tax?

Sponsorship and advertising dollars can provide a real boost to your not-for-profit organization’s income. However, if sponsors or advertisers receive a “substantial benefit” or if providing benefits isn’t a related…

Nonprofits: Consider These 2 Issues Before Searching for New Staffers

Despite many predictions to the contrary, U.S. employers have continued to add workers to their payrolls and the unemployment rate has remained low — at 3.7% as of November 2023,…

Why Your Nonprofit Shouldn’t Operate Like a For-Profit Business

Charlotte thought she knew everything about running a not-for-profit community hospital. So the CEO was shocked when the IRS contacted her hospital about potentially losing its tax-exempt status. The IRS mentioned…

When Do 501(C)(6) Organizations Risk Their Exempt Status?

Even when they’re nonprofits, trade associations and chambers of commerce generally qualify for a tax exemption under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, not Sec. 501(c)(3). And these “business leagues” (as…

Best Practices for Effective Board Meeting Minutes

If you think the recorded minutes of your nonprofit’s board meetings are just a formality, think again. Meeting minutes can become critical documents if, for example, your organization is audited…

How to Get the Financing Your Nonprofit Needs

Relatively high interest rates and tight lending standards are making it difficult for even for-profit businesses to apply and qualify for bank loans. But not-for-profits, which may lack adequate collateral…