Many founders think of Form 990 as a private tax return, sent to the IRS and forgotten. It is not private at all. It is a public document, and it may be the first thing a donor or grantmaker reads about your organization.
By law, your three most recent annual returns must be available for anyone to inspect, and the IRS publishes filed returns online. That means a stranger can look up how much money came in, how it was spent, and what your organization actually did — before they ever visit your website.
Here is what readers look at first:
1. Your mission and programs. Does the return clearly say what you do and who you help?
2. Your numbers. How much went to programs, and how much to management and fundraising?
3. Your pay. Salaries for officers and key employees are listed by name. Pay that is hard to explain in public will be hard to explain to a funder.
4. Your board and your rules. The return asks who is on your board, whether you have a conflict of interest policy, and whether the board saw the return before it was filed. Those answers are public too.
One thing stays private: for most charities, donors' names and addresses on Schedule B are not open to the public. Almost everything else is.
So before you file, read your own return the way a careful donor would. If a line would confuse you or raise a question, it will do the same to them — and there is still time to fix the wording and get the numbers right.
File it like everyone is going to read it. Because anyone can.
— 501c3 Expert
We handle all your 501(c)(3) paperwork — nonprofits set up from start to finish, and Form 990s prepared every year.
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