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Accounting for Magic Valley non-profits
Setting an organization up properly, then Form 990, board-ready reporting and keeping exempt status intact.
Non-profits answer to a board, to donors and to the IRS, and each wants the numbers in a different form. The work runs from setting an organization up and getting its exemption approved through to the annual filings and the reporting a board can actually use, without creating a burden that consumes the organization's capacity.
Starting a non-profit
Setting one up properly is its own piece of work: incorporating in Idaho, drafting the purpose language the IRS expects, applying for exemption on Form 1023 or 1023-EZ, and getting the governance and record-keeping in place from the start. Applications get delayed or denied over details in the organizing documents, which is much easier to get right the first time than to fix afterwards.
Form 990
Which version applies depends on gross receipts, and the 990 is a public document that donors and grant-makers read. It functions as much as a public statement of how the organization operates as a tax filing, and it is worth preparing with that in mind.
Restricted funds
Donor-restricted contributions have to be tracked and released properly. This is the most common place small non-profit bookkeeping goes wrong, and it is the thing an auditor or a major donor looks at first.
Board reporting
Boards need statements they can actually read and act on. That usually means budget against actual, a clear picture of unrestricted reserves, and a straight answer on the cash position.
Maintaining exempt status
Unrelated business income, private benefit, lobbying limits and the annual filing requirement all bear on exempt status. Three consecutive missed 990 filings revokes it automatically, which happens to more small organizations than it should.
Grant compliance
Grant funding usually carries reporting requirements, and grantors who do not get clean reports do not renew.
Work with Ruth
Forty-eight years in the Magic Valley, and the same small office on your file start to finish.
Services used most
Other industries
Common questions
We are a small organization. Do we still file?
Almost certainly yes. Organizations below the receipts threshold file the 990-N, which is short, but three consecutive years of not filing anything revokes exempt status automatically.
Can you help us start a non-profit?
Yes. That covers the Idaho incorporation, the IRS exemption application, and making sure the organizing documents and governance are set up the way they need to be from the beginning.
Can you attend a board meeting?
Yes, where it helps. Boards often have questions that are easier answered in the room than in a footnote.
Referred by someone we work with?
Call the office and speak to Bailey. She handles the calendar and will get you in front of Ruth.