Form 990 Tutorial, page 1

Previous Page | Next Page

A. Period return covers—an organization whose annual budget is not based on the calendar year will fill in the dates of its fiscal year here.

Employer Identification Number—a nine-digit number assigned by the IRS that is unique to the filing organization.

H. Whether return is a group return that includes information for affiliates.

J. Type of 501(c) the filing nonprofit is—501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), etc.

1a. Direct public support— contributions received directly from individuals and foundations.

1b. Indirect public support—contributions received through federated fund-raising campaigns such as the United Way or Combined Federal Campaign. Also included here are moneys received from affiliated organizations (parent, subordinate, or supporting organizations).

1c. Government contributions (grants)—federal, state, or local government contributions that provide a direct benefit to the general public. This figure does not include monies received from government contracts or fees for services. The distinction can be tricky. For example, suppose a local government gives a rural health clinic $5,000 to support its operations. The clinic decides to use this entire amount to provide free tetanus shots to county residents. The funds are then considered a government grant. If, however, the government gave the clinic the funds to provide tetanus inoculations for government workers and stipulated that the money would be used for that purpose alone, the funds would be considered a government contract.

2. Program service revenue—revenues the organization received while charging for the services for which it is tax exempt. In addition to government contracts described for line 1c above, examples include tuition received by schools, admissions received by an art museum, and patient payments for medical services at a hospital.

13. Program services expenses—expenses the organization incurred while performing its tax-exempt activities.

14. Management and general expenses—expenses related to the organization's day-to-day operation, such as personnel, accounting, legal, general-insurance, and office-management costs.

15. Fundraising expenses—costs of soliciting the contributions reported on lines 1a, 1b, and 1c. GuideStar researchers suspect that fund-raising expenses are inconsistently reported. A 1999 internal GuideStar study of 83,947 organizations showed that although 82 percent (68,698) reported contributions on their Forms 990, only 25 percent (21,386) reported any fund-raising expenses.

17. Total expenses—the organization's total budget for the fiscal year. GuideStar recommends using this figure, rather than income or assets, to determine an organization's size.

18. Excess (or deficit) for the year—this information seems to show how much more an organization took in than it spent, but it can be misleading. Under the accounting conventions that most organizations use, a multi-year grant is to be reported in the year it is pledged, whether or not all of the money is received in that year. For example, suppose a foundation offers an organization an unconditional three-year grant of $150,000, with annual payments of $50,000 made to the organization in each of three years. An organization following generally accepted accounting procedures will report the entire present value of the grant, not merely the $50,000 it received the first year, even though the remainder of the money will not be available to the organization until subsequent years.

Previous Page | Next Page