Capacity Building and Organizational Effectiveness
A priority of the nonprofit sector is to ensure that it has the resources it needs to serve communities and is effectively and efficiently managed.
The key focuses of this priority are:
- Accountability and Best Practices - The nonprofit sector is responsive, operates efficiently, and is accountable to its clients and donors. Learn what nonprofit state associations are recommending. Also read The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector's recently released report titled Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice: A Guide for Charities and Foundations.
- Leadership - The nonprofit sector has effective and strong leadership with a focus on mission.
- Capacity Building - Learn how the National Council of Nonprofits is advancing the nonprofit sector's capacity building work through its advocacy focus on the Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative (NCBI). NCBI will help nonprofits across the country grow stronger and smarter. Learn more here.
Form 990 Instructions Released; IRS Filing System for Nonprofits Reaches Completion
With the August 19, 2008 Release of Instructions for the new Form 990, there is now more than adequate direction for nonprofits to begin to review their accounting and recordkeeping procedures and their governance practices to develop the groundwork that will make next year's filing go well.
Form 990 is the primary federal tax compliance tool for tax-exempt organizations. Also, most states rely on the form to perform charitable and other regulatory oversight, and to satisfy state income tax filing requirements. It is a public document made available by nonprofits themselves, the IRS, and others (ex: Guidestar), and is relied on by the public, state regulators, the media, researchers, and policymakers to obtain information about nonprofits. Each year, over 500,000 nonprofits file a Form 990 or Form 990-EZ with the IRS.
The 990 had not been significantly revised since 1979 and required a major overhaul to reflect changes in the sector. It no longer adequately met the transparency and accountability needs of the IRS, the states, the public, and communities served by nonprofits. The IRS extensively revised the format and content of the form based on three guiding principles: enhancing transparency, promoting tax compliance, and minimizing burden on the filing organization.
Learn more about...
- The redesign process
- All the changes made
- Changes made to last April's draft instructions, and
- The IRS 990 series filing phase-in for small and midsize nonprofits.
IRS Form 990 Webinar Series: Changes and Implementation
Significant changes have been made to IRS Form 990. The National Council of Nonprofits presented a 3-part webinar series featuring experts in the field discussing these changes and how they impact your organization. All three webinars are now available for download.
IRS advised to move cautiously on nonprofit governance issues
In its June 11 report, the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT) advises the Internal Revenue Service to approach the area of nonprofit “good governance” with caution. The Executive Summary to the substantial section on “The Appropriate Role of the Internal Revenue Service with Respect to Tax-Exempt Organization Good Governance Issues" acknowledges the IRS’s legitimate interest in governance as it relates directly to legal compliance. But if charities feel pressured to adopt specified practices to satisfy the IRS, “(t)his then can effectively usurp the judgment of governing boards in determining what governance practices make sense in their specific context, place undue burdens on organizations, divert their attention… and adversely impact the unique, diverse, vibrant, and flexible charitable sector in this country.”
Using maps to focus volunteers and donors to multiple non profits in a community
i can edit it ?In my 30 years of leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in Chicago I've seen several discouraging trends.
a) only those organizations with the best marketing or with celebrity leaders get consistent attention and funding.
b) media and public leaders don't talk about a problem, or a solution, every day, the way advertisers talk about their products every day and in many ways
c) when negative news, like a shooting, or the school report card, or a school closing, is reported, the media only focus on a few places where the news occurred, rather than all of the places in the city where similar bad news happens every week
d) when media do write about a social benefit response, they tend to only focus on a few brand name solutions, or a few high profile neighborhoods
We need to change this if we're to support the growth of non profits doing good work in all of the areas where such work is needed.
One strategy to support this change of thinking is to use demographic maps of a community to show all of the places where there are poorly performing schools, or where there is high poverty. Every time media or public leaders talk about a problem, and point to a single neighborhood, people who comment on the news can use blogs and other media to show how that problem is in multiple places.
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