Questions asked and FAQ's

Monday, September 24, 2007

Related vs. Unrelated Business Expenses

Q: What is the difference between business activities that are taxable and those that are not?

A: While pursuing a cause, a nonprofit organization may accrue some profit. This profit is considered tax-exempt, as it is a result of business related activities that prove beneficial to the given cause. Any profit that may come from business activity not related to the mission of the organization may be subject to taxation. There are exceptions in which unrelated activities will not be taxed, such as tasks performed by volunteers, the sale of donated merchandise, and/or the rental of mailing lists.

However flexible this rule may be, nonprofit organizations are often cautioned to lessen their unrelated business activities, as not to provoke inquiries from the IRS about tax-exempt status. It is also suggested that you seek legal advice before pursuing business activities as means to cultivate your mission or increase annual income.

For more information, please consider the following sources:

Publication 557: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p557/index.html
Exempt Organizations (UBI) Tax Statistics: http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/charitablestats/article/0,,id=97210,00.html

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Some 990 Resources

990 material

From AFP

http://www.afpnet.org/ResourceCenter/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2865

Some links from the IRS

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=214269,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=208553,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=201398,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=188585,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=166625,00.html

Some additional links

http://afprc7.blogspot.com/search?q=990+2008

http://canbootcamp.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-990-to-do-list.html

http://www.larsonallen.com/fig/Redesigned990.asp

http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/taxincentives/990s/990-instructions

The following is older material but may still be useful

An article on this blog titled The Elusive 990.

Some other web resources.
How to Read the IRS Form 990
& Find Out What it Means

How to Read IRS Form 990 from Fidelity

A variety of nonprofit financial links via SNPO

Assessing Nonprofit Financial Measures from Nonprofit Research Fund

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Some sample contract material

http://www.managementhelp.org/misc/smplcntr.htm
http://www.raise-funds.com/012202forum.html

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Some links related to Corporate Giving Policies

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/page5226.cfm

http://www.minnesotagiving.org/options/corporate.htm

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/howtohelp/CorporateGiving.cfm

Prospect Research and Foundations

Some links to material on prospect research and foundations.

http://www.win.org/library/intres/nonprofit/Prospecting/prosnp.html

http://www.win.org/library/intres/nonprofit/Prospecting/creating_a_list.html

http://www.donorsforum.org/resource/grant_res_identify.html

http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/faqs/section_2b.html

http://www.raise-funds.com/498forum.html the section on foundations

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=1125

Monday, March 19, 2007

Walkathons

Here is some material from the web about Walkathons.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=1691d964-32fb-430c-80be-8f1b8db49a25&k=45527

http://www.profitquests.com/IdeasWalkathons.html

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Generational Giving

Some material that discusses generational charitable giving.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070214/14genxers.htm

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=fe164652-18b3-4185-b868-f87472bdbbb8&k=95118

http://philanthropy.com/free/update/2006/12/2006122801.htm

http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6763

http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6866&JServSessionIdr012=4bl7gxdj93.app8b

http://afprc7.blogspot.com/2006/11/mercurynewscom-10292006-womens.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/meet-the-philanthropreneurs/2006/12/29/1166895477804.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/columnists/voelpel/story/6220163p-5433822c.html

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

AFP > Education & Career Development | Audioconferences > Cause Marketing for Nonprofits: Partner for Purpose, Passion and Profits

Some related material on this topic is posted in the FAQ below

AFP > Education & Career Development | Audioconferences > Cause Marketing for Nonprofits: Partner for Purpose, Passion and Profits: "Cause Marketing for Nonprofits: Partner for Purpose, Passion and Profits

February 6, 2007

Event Category: AFP International

Event Type: Audioconference

Organizer: AFP International Headquarters

Cause marketing sees corporations partner with non-profit causes to combine the power of a company's brand, marketing and people with a non-profit's brand and assets to create shareholder and social value while integrating and communicating values. This session will look at this new and growing field using many practical examples, discuss the current drivers and the advantages and provides a framework to show how non-profits can participate in this new and growing form of non-profit-corporate engagement, and the new marketing and corporate citizenship tool of the 21st century."

Monday, January 08, 2007

Salary Information

AFP has an annual Salary Survey which is available for free for their members via the AFP website. You can read additional information about salaries in the Resource Center FAQ on Salaries here.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Cause Related Marketing

Here are some internet sources on Cause Related Marketing Guidelines and related issues.. Standard disclaimers apply

Some material from the AFP Website.

http://www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=1292

http://www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=2625

http://www.afpnet.org/ResourceCenter/ArticleDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=3272

From other sources.

http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2008/10/24/new-study-suggests-that-cause-marketing-boosts-sales.html

http://www.coneinc.com/news/request.php?id=1187

http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5919

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/23/Business/In_the_market_for_a_g.shtml

http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5919

http://www.independentsector.org/mission_market/ACS_guidelines.htm

http://www.supportingadvancement.com/more_with_less/policies/fch_cause_related_marketing.htm

http://www.bitc.org.uk/programmes/programme_directory/cause_related_business/crmguidelines.html

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690133

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/23/Business/In_the_market_for_a_g.shtml

http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/research/rcaus1.html

Monday, November 20, 2006

If you like this Blog you may like our Recent News of Note Blog

If you like this Blog you may also like our Recent News of Note Blog.

A review of that blog is below.

Thanks to Tom Watson for this honor and kind remarks.
Reed Stockman

News onPhilanthropy: Blog of the Week: AFP Blog: "Blog of the Week: AFP Blog

The Association of Fundraising Professionals is the national membership organization of those who raise money for a living in the major gifts arena and as a trade group, most of its attention is focused on members. Rightly so. But the AFP Blog is wonderful service for anyone working in the sector - and that's because of the terrific work being done by blogger Reed Stockman."

Giving Circles

Standard disclaimers apply.
From the AFP website
Research Study: Giving Circles and Fundraising in the New Philanthropy Environment
The purpose of this project was to better understand how fundraising professionals are responding and adapting to tools of the "new philanthropy" environment, especially to funding from "giving circles." Scholars, practitioners, and journalists claim a new era has begun in American philanthropy; one that is more engaged and uses unconventional modes of giving and volunteering. This report by Angela Eikenberry of the Center for Public Administration and Policy, School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech, examines the practice in depth.

http://www.afpnet.org/research_and_statistics/afp_research

The PDF Is here
http://www.afpnet.org/content_documents/eikenberry_research_giving_circles.pdf

News articles
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/20/eveningnews/printable2201582.shtml

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/PersonalFinance/story?id=2644183&page=1

Websites

http://nonprofit.about.com/b/a/196471.htm

http://www.givingforum.org/givingcircles/

http://www.minnesotagiving.org/options/circle.htm

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Anniversary Special Events

We often get questions about Anniversary Special Events. Here is some material we found that relates to the topic.

CELEBRATE YOUR NONPROFIT

History - A Powerful Fundraising Tool

http://www.150years.umd.edu/150yearsplanning/info/

Anniversary Fundraising

Some material we've seen on the Cost of Fundraising

Here are some links from AFP and elsewhere which discuss the Cost of Fundraising.
A December 1st 2009 story via the Chronicle Give and Take Blog
http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/index.php?id=1482
An AFP article on Avoiding the Cost Ratio Trap
AFP member Barbara Clemenson comments and provides a personal white paper on Percentage Fundraising.
Material on the AFP website which discusses various aspects of this topic at the following links.

Congressional Committee Proposes Fundraising Cost Disclosures
(Jan. 21, 2008) The House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a second hearing on Jan. 17 to investigate fundraising costs by veterans charities, with several members of Congress calling for charities to disclose their fundrai

Overhead Costs Too Low, You Say? Watch Your Mouth!
(July 28, 2008) Much has been made of fundraising costs and the overhead expenses of nonprofits. There are percentages thrown about and charities measured and judged based on these numbers. But if you have an “acceptable” or “good

Majority of Americans Believe Nonprofit Overhead Unreasonable
(Feb. 19, 2008) Sixty-two percent of Americans believe the typical nonprofit organization spends more than what is reasonable on overhead expenses such as administration and fundraising, according to a new survey. (Feb. 19, 2008) Sixty-two percent of

Fundraising Costs: Keeping Your Board…On Board
(Sept. 15, 2008) Showing your board how to see past over-simplified cost ratios is a critical way to ensure strategic growth and arm your biggest advocates with the information to engage in these conversations with donors and potential supporters.

FAQ: Evaluating Fundraising Costs
What are some guidelines for evaluating fundraising costs? See also: Fundraising costs: A Game of One-downmanship by James M. Greenfield, ACFRE

From the NCCS study
http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/FAQ/index.php?category=40
Other sources
http://missionbased.blogspot.com/2006/05/addicted-to-admin-costs.html

http://philanthropy.com/blogs/measuring-up/how-to-predict-the-success-of-a-nonprofit-program-before-it-starts/253?cid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

What is the average cost per dollar raised?
http://www.supportingadvancement.com/faq/cost_per_dollar_raised.htm
An article from Board Source
http://www.boardsource.org/Knowledge.asp?ID=3.123
An article from Mal Warwick
http://www.malwarwick.com/learning-resources/articles/fundraising-ratios.html