990 | The Smarter Giving Guy

Charity conflict of interest policy sample

Does your favorite charity have a written conflict of interest policy?

IRS Form 990 asks charities whether they have such a policy. While having one isn’t required by the Internal Revenue Code, the Form 990 question is a pretty strong suggestion that a charity have such a policy in place. We agree wholeheartedly with the suggestion.

The [...]

Nonprofits to Lose Tax Exemptions May 15

Is your charity or other nonprofit about to lose its tax-exemption? If it hasn’t been keeping up on filing its annual returns with the IRS, its tax-exemption is in jeopardy. Being “tax-exempt” basically means that a nonprofit doesn’t pay federal income taxes on income related to its core purpose.

The New York Times yesterday reported that [...]

IRS issues reminders about charities and other tax-exempt organizations

The IRS issued Tax Tip 2010-59 today, providing good reminders for donors about charities and other tax-exempt organizations. The reminders include public availability of IRS information returns and donor lists, finding organizations, sorting out where donations are deductible (or not deductible) as charitable contributions, and reporting of inappropriate activities by organizations.

Read the full IRS release.

Find an Organization's Form 990

A wealth of information is available from an organization’s most recent IRS information return (Form 990, Form 990-EZ or Form 990-PF).

My first place to look for an organization’s 990 is the awesome database maintained by the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS). NCCS has a terrific search tool,

IRS posts 2009 Form 990 and Form 990-EZ

The Internal Revenue Service has posted the 2009 Form 990 and Form 990-EZ (plus instructions and related schedules) on the IRS website. The instructions list changes from the 2008 forms. See our quick links below. In general, an organization must file

“Find Top-Notch Charities and Avoid the Clunkers”

– Ed Long, the Smarter Giving Guy.

Before you read more, I have an admission. There’s a downside to using my approach to being a “smart giver,” to screening charities and finding key charity information. You’ll need to work like a researcher, make lists, do calculations, and think strategically. It’s not for everybody.

For example, I don’t [...]

“How to Find Key Charity Information”

– Ed Long, the Smarter Giving Guy.

I don’t believe a serious giver should give to a charity without looking at the key performance information in its latest IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

That’s where you’ll find the charity’s program spending numbers, find its key staff and their compensation, see how efficient it is in its fundraising, [...]

Charity Screening: Childhood Leukemia Foundation

This charity screening report gives you a sample of the types of information readily available to you through an organization’s most recently filed IRS Form 990 return. By law, such returns are publicly available (excluding certain donor-identification information). We followed The Smarter Giving Guide To Finding Key Charity Information as our guide to (i) [...]

Question: Where Can I Find Charity Ratings Online?

Answer: Few organizations provide ratings of charities, and their coverage is very limited (especially when you consider that there are more than 1 million charities operating in the U.S.). The two most prominent are:

CharityNavigator.org describes itself as “America’s Largest Charity Evaluator” and provides “star” ratings (0 to 4 stars) on roughly 5,400 larger charities. [...]

The Smarter Giving Guide to Finding Key Charity Information

Charities publish an immense amount of data in their IRS Form 990 returns each year. The giver’s challenge has been to find and evaluate the key information tucked away in those returns. We’ve created a new guide to help givers meet that challenge.

The Smarter Giving Guide to Finding Key Charity Information helps you

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