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Posts: 11559
May 6 14 2:17 PM
colorisnteverything wrote:ddranch wrote:colorisnteverything wrote:That is a really bare bones 990. When I was in a nonprofit class last year, we were far more detailed in the fake 501(c)(3) paperwork we set up. I don't think there's anything suspicious necessarily in the 990 but it's pretty bare. The section O is WAY more simplistic than almost any I've seen for a legit charity in the past. Also, depending on the state, you *can* have family members on the board. However, they all should have to fill out conflict of interest information and I was told it was a "red flag" at least when it comes to grant funding. I'm comparing this to service orgs, though, which are a pretty different type of organization altogether. So I'm not sure how "normal" that is. Running a nonprofit is really hard and really stressful.I think it would be very hard to meet all the requirements.If I could ask you to look at the paperwork from another angle for a moment and if you wanted to shelter as much of your normal expenses on horses and create a big tax write off what would the paperwork look like?I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "very hard to meet the requirements". A lot of animal rescue orgs (legitimate ones) DO meet these requirements, so that's what I meant. It can. Here is one from an organization I used to volunteer with:http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2012/352/107/2012-352107038-0953044b-9.pdfNote the donations, different grant, and other information filled in. Also note the board of directors notes, etc. This is what the 990s I have seen quite often look like for legit orgs.Here's a Humane Society in the same county/city:http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2012/356/064/2012-356064277-09e000f9-9.pdfLooks more legitimate. Itemizing programs, donations, etc. is really important and most organizations that ARE legitimate will do so. When you look through a 990, you want to see that they are actually DOING programming not just taking in money and claiming a loss. The charity in question looks suspect based on the 990,as I said before. It's not necessarily bad or good (although it seems to jive with what you've found out that they are fishy) based on that alone but I wouldn't want to donate to them based on how little I actually see going on there.
ddranch wrote:colorisnteverything wrote:That is a really bare bones 990. When I was in a nonprofit class last year, we were far more detailed in the fake 501(c)(3) paperwork we set up. I don't think there's anything suspicious necessarily in the 990 but it's pretty bare. The section O is WAY more simplistic than almost any I've seen for a legit charity in the past. Also, depending on the state, you *can* have family members on the board. However, they all should have to fill out conflict of interest information and I was told it was a "red flag" at least when it comes to grant funding. I'm comparing this to service orgs, though, which are a pretty different type of organization altogether. So I'm not sure how "normal" that is. Running a nonprofit is really hard and really stressful.I think it would be very hard to meet all the requirements.If I could ask you to look at the paperwork from another angle for a moment and if you wanted to shelter as much of your normal expenses on horses and create a big tax write off what would the paperwork look like?
colorisnteverything wrote:That is a really bare bones 990. When I was in a nonprofit class last year, we were far more detailed in the fake 501(c)(3) paperwork we set up. I don't think there's anything suspicious necessarily in the 990 but it's pretty bare. The section O is WAY more simplistic than almost any I've seen for a legit charity in the past. Also, depending on the state, you *can* have family members on the board. However, they all should have to fill out conflict of interest information and I was told it was a "red flag" at least when it comes to grant funding. I'm comparing this to service orgs, though, which are a pretty different type of organization altogether. So I'm not sure how "normal" that is. Running a nonprofit is really hard and really stressful.
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