Best Practices - Financial Issues
Redesigned Form 990, Forms and Instructions
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS.gov website gives detailed instructions for each form and schedule, and a general overview of the Form 990 in the document titled What's New-Redesigned Form 990 and Instructions for 2008 tax year.
Grant Budgets and Financial Reporting
Project Streamline
This report explores how funders can minimize financial reporting requirements for nonprofit organizations while still carrying out proper financial due diligence.
Online Courses about the New Form 990
StayExempt.org
This website provides five mini-courses that discuss the new Form 990. Courses available include Preparing to File the New Form 990, The Redesigned Form 990 - Part I, The Redesigned Form 990 - Part II, The Redesigned Form 990 - Part III, and The Redesigned Form 990 - Part IV.
New Form Filing Phase-in Instructions
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS provides details about what form to file during the three year phase-in period for different organizations.
What Nonprofits Need to Know about the New Form 990
Independent Sector
This article informs nonprofits about what they need to know about the new Form 990 and outlines some of the issues an organization should address before the tax year ends
(access to this site requires Independent Sector membership).
The Door Has Opened: New Form 990 Creates Strategic Opportunities and Risks for Nonprofit Organizations
GuideStar
This article guides nonprofit staff and board members to be alert to the new Form 990 changes' strategic implications and to have tools to manage them successfully.
If prepared, nonprofit organizations can capitalize on the opportunities created by the increased transparency. If unprepared, they may be unnecessarily subjected to potentially damaging external risks.
Nonprofit Overhead Costs: Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Misleading Reporting, Unrealistic Expectations, and Pressure to Conform
Bridgespan Group
Many organizations and their funders are locked in a vicious cycle in which nonprofits are pressured to under-invest in overhead and to under-report their true overhead costs, even when those costs are still below what their senior managers feel is needed. The article helps funders and organizations separate good overhead from bad and how to enable an organization to invest in the talent, systems and training that create a foundation for healthy growth.
Money to Grow On: Funding Growth That Can Be Sustained
Bridgespan group
This guide helps philanthropists who want to see their money used most effectively, especially in tough economic times. By better translating for-profit concepts, donors can learn how to scout out the select nonprofits that have the potential to sustain their operations and grow.
Donor Advised Funds
Council on Foundations
The report provides national and state level information on assets held in donor advised funds and grantmaking for 2008 and 2009 by community foundations.