Is your not-for-profit thinking about merging or otherwise restructuring?
Recently, the IRS made the process easier for some organizations.
How to Avoid Misuse of Your Not-for-Profit’s Credit Cards
Credit card misuse or fraud is more common in not-for-profits than you may think.
A hypothetical scenario: not-for-profit staffer named Britney had maxed out her personal credit cards. So when her car needed repairs, she reached for her employer’s card. She reasoned that she would come up with the money to pay the bill before her boss ever saw a statement. Britney didn’t come up with the money. But lucky for her, her boss didn’t review the card statement that month. When Britney needed to buy holiday gifts, she reached for her work card again — and again. By the time her boss finally noticed the illicit charges, Britney had spent more than $5,000.
If you write and enforce a strong card use policy at your organization, you can help prevent Britney’s and her boss’s mistakes.
Recap: Nonprofit Governance & Risk Management Seminar
We hosted our third not-for-profit seminar of 2019, “Nonprofit Governance & Risk Management,” on November 6th. It was a compelling topic to close the year! Our speaker was attorney Nicola Fuentes Toubia, whose work is dedicated to legal and tax issues facing nonprofits.
In her discussion, Toubia provided tips on better governance best practices and offered insight on various areas where organizations are susceptible to risk.
Account for Contributions and Grants with Ease
Accounting for contributions and grants has often proven complicated for not-for-profits, especially when they come with donor-imposed conditions.
But 2018 guidance from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) provided some much-needed clarification of earlier instructions.
Getting the Right Information from Board Members
To properly fulfill their fiduciary duties, your not-for-profit’s board needs certain information from its board members, and it’s up to the executive director and managers to ensure they have it. This doesn’t mean you have to share every internal email, memo or phone message. Board members are busy and you don’t want to bog them down with superfluous reading material.
However, there are several types of information you must share so that they can make informed decisions.
Your Not-for-Profit’s Annual Report Could Engage Support
Some of your not-for-profit’s communications are of interest only to a select group of your supporters. But your organization’s annual report is for all stakeholders — donors, grantmakers, clients, volunteers, watchdog groups and the government.
Some report elements are nonnegotiable, such as financial statements, but you also have plenty of creative license to make your report engaging and memorable for its wide-ranging audience.
How Buying and Leasing can Benefit Not-for-Profits
If your not-for-profit owns its own facility, it likely will have more control of work space than if you’re leasing. However, ownership carries risks — and leasing can provide several advantages.
If you’re trying to make a buy-or-lease decision, be sure to weigh the following factors.
How Personal Appeals Can Fight Fundraising Obstacles
It’s no secret that this is a challenging time for charitable fundraising. In its annual Giving USA 2019 report, the Giving USA Foundation noted a decrease in individual and household giving, blaming such impersonal factors as tax law changes and a wobbly stock market.
So why not fight back by making personal appeals to supporters? Requests from friends or family members have traditionally been significant donation drivers. Even in the age of social media “influencers,” prospective donors are more likely to contribute to the causes championed by people they actually know and trust.
Your Not-for-Profit’s Tax-Exempt Status – How to Keep It
One of the worst things that can happen to a not-for-profit organization is to have its tax-exempt status revoked. Among other consequences, the not-for-profit may lose credibility with supporters and the public, and donors will no longer be able to make tax-exempt contributions.
Although loss of exempt status isn’t common, certain activities can increase your risk significantly. These include ignoring the IRS’s private benefit and private inurement provisions. Here’s what you need to know to avoid reaping an excess benefit from your organization’s transactions.
How to Protect Youth Sports Leagues from Fraud
Who would defraud a kids’ organization? The answer, unfortunately, is that trusted adults sometimes steal from not-for-profits benefiting children. Youth sports leagues and teams, for example, are ripe for fraud. Cash transactions are common, and coaches and board members usually are volunteers with little accountability.
If you or your children are involved in a youth sports league, here’s what you can do to ensure that its funds support the kids, not thieves.