Past Tense

The completely revised IRS Form 990 is on its way – have you taken a look at it yet? While there are some changes in how financial information is reported, the biggest changes are in the non-financial sections. The Internal Revenue Service has taken upon itself the job of collecting information about the governance of nonprofits, a move that’s a bit controversial among nonprofit professionals but follows periods of intense heat from Congress after some highly publicized cases of abuse.

Whether you agree that it’s a good move or think that IRS should stay out of these areas, you’ll be faced with preparing the form – or assisting your auditor or accountant in preparing it – sooner or later. The task will require that you understand thoroughly the structure and authority of the board and its committees as well as the organization’s policies in more depth than you may otherwise have the need to.

If your organization hasn’t completely achieved good governance yet, completing the new 990 will be more challenging. Do you know where the board policies are? The best answer would be yes, they’re collected safely in a binder that’s kept in the office and given to each new board member. On top of that, they are recorded digitally. Has your board passed a conflict of interest policy or a whistleblower policy? Does each board position have a job description?

If you know your organization isn’t completely up to date, here’s a resource you may want to consult. Randa Cleaves and Jonathon Abramson are partners in Avenue2possibilities LLP. They provide planning, development and training services to non-profit organizations. This fall, they compiled a workbook and checklist of actions to help you “ensure that your nonprofit organization will be ready” for the revised the 990. The workbook is available at no cost on their website. This link www.accga2p.com/materials will take you directly to the page you’ll want.

It’s called “IRS Form 990 Revisions Made Easy” and it takes you through tasks you may have been avoiding for months: finding the original version of the mission statement that your organization submitted to the IRS when it applied for exempt status, pulling together a record retention policy, putting a notebook together with a job description for new board members. Each section addresses one issue and gives background and a description of what IRS believes makes up good governance. Then it moves on to pose questions, suggest what you should do, and make related recommendations.

The workbook includes sections on organizational documents, governing body, governance and management policies, investments, raising money, conflicts of interest, and more. Randa and Jonathan were thorough enough to footnote all their sources so that you can easily find the sources of their advice if you would like to.

In searching the internet, I haven’t found another website with as many practical resources for building good governance in one place as this. If you need language to start with in crafting policies for your organization on fundraising, whistleblower protection, document retention and destruction, or others, look here first. You may save yourself hours of valuable time.