Illinois Partners for Human Service Providers

On Tuesday September 13th the Peoria Illinois Partners Local Council is having their bi-monthly meeting and as a guest speaker:
Dr. Layla Suleiman Gonzalez, Director of Research, Evaluation & Performance at Department of Human Services, the lead on “Budgeting for Results/Outcomes” will be presenting.

This is a great opportunity for anyone receiving money from the State of Illinois to hear about the NEW budgeting process.  ALL State Agencies (legislation signed this year) are involved in this Budgeting for Results process and a special Budgeting For Results Commission was appointed and began their work 10 days ago. This is a great opportunity to learn and ask questions.

Jim Runyon and Clete Winkleman (Co-Leaders of the Peoria Illinois Partners Local Council) have extended an invitation to YOU.  Their "business portion of the meeting" will be from 8 - 8:25 and PROMPTLY at 8:30 Dr. Layla Suleiman Gonzalez will begin her presentation. (Her portion will be from 8:30 - 9:30) The meeting will be located at Easter Seal-Peoria Service Center 507 E. Armstrong Ave. Peoria, IL 61603.

Internal Controls for Not-for-Profit Organizations

Having strong internal controls is critical to the financial and overall health of your not-for-profit organization, but small not-for-profits generally have a limited number of staff and/or volunteers responsible for the organization\'s finances. Learn how small not-for-profit organizations can develop strong internal controls over operations and accounting systems. Discuss why having good internal controls procedures in place is so important in light of new auditing standards that will impact the audit of your organization.

• Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2010
• Time: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
• Location: Lincoln Library
  326 S. 7th Street, Springfield, IL 62701
  Carnegie North Meeting Room
• Cost: $40 (includes workshop materials and refreshments)
• Code: PI158
• Presenter: Charlotte Montgomery, CPA - Director of Resource Allocation, Illinois State Museum

To register, call 800.993.0393 and refer to course code PI158.

Please contact Jill Wiles Wolf, Public Service Manager at wilesj@icpas.org or 800.993.0407 ext. 277 with questions or to be added to the workshop email list.

Earlier this week the IRS issued guidance (http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=225705,00.html) providing relief to small charities who had missed the deadline to file Form 990-N or Form 990-EZ for the past three years. Under this voluntary compliance program, small charities following the procedures announced by the IRS may be able to maintain their charitable status if they file the form prior to October 15th, complete a checklist and pay a small fee (between $100-$500). This guidance may be welcome news to some of your smaller grantees who missed their filing deadlines.

In issuing the guidance, the IRS also posted a list (http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=225889,00.html) on its website of organizations at risk of automatic loss of their tax exempt status due to failure to file any of the Form 990 series (Form 990-N, Form 990-EZ, Form 990, Form 990-PF) as required. We recommend that you take this opportunity to make sure the IRS does not have your community foundation on the list. Check for your affiliated entities as well. For example, you may want to verify that trusts that you may have kept open in anticipation of any lingering testamentary gifts, community foundation affiliates that have incorporated and obtained charitable status, or supporting organizations that you established are not on the list. While you are not likely to find a problem, it doesn\'t hurt to verify that fact on the publicly available list. Note that the IRS includes some warnings about its list. In particular they state: "The list may be incomplete, as certain organizations may be at risk even though their names do not appear. In addition, the list may include organizations that were required to file Form 990 or Form 990-PF and are not eligible for the relief program, and organizations whose filing dates have not yet occurred." While the list may not be perfect, it will give you a good idea of what the IRS records show.

For more information on the program and for the at risk list see: http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=225702,00.html

A nonprofit tax-exempt status is a privilege:  It has to be earned and it needs to be maintained.  With privilege comes expectation and a nonprofit must know to whom it is accountable.  A myriad of agencies, statutes and individuals regulate a nonprofit’s activities.

BoardSource’s latest White Paper, “Regulating and Monitoring Nonprofits – Balancing Compliance and Best Practices”, sheds light on some of those bodies and regulations that oversee, sanction, guide or place specific expectations on nonprofits.  It is incumbent upon the board to be aware of these entities as part of its own primary duty of organizational oversight.

Read the full article here.

Article by Ellis McGehee Carter

Lawyers who regularly represent tax-exempt and non-profit organizations are eventually solicited for advice regarding non-profit governance. Here are some of the most common governance mistakes witnessed in my practice:

1. Failing to Understand Fiduciary Duties.
2. Failing to Provide Effective Oversight.
3. Deference to the Executive Committee, Board Chair or the Organization’s Founder.
4. Micro-managing Staff.
5. Avoiding The Hard Questions.
6. Insufficient Conflict Management.
7. Lack of Awareness of Laws Governing Tax-Exempts.
8. Operating with Outdated, Inconsistent Governing Documents.
9. Airing Disagreements Outside the Boardroom.
10. Failure to Cultivate Board Diversity.

To read more, visit: http://charitylawyerblog.com/2009/09/12/top-ten-non-profit-governance-mistakes/

Robert Egger, the founder of the V3 Campaign and president of D.C. Central Kitchen, in Washington, discusses why budget deficits in 47 states are a call to action for nonprofit groups that want a bigger say in how government works.

Click here to listen:
http://philanthropy.com/media/audio/philanthropythisweek/

Click here to learn more about Robert and the V3 campaign:
http://v3campaign.org

The Internal Revenue Service has put together a video series and case study to assist non-profits to better understand required Form 990 filing procedures.  The direct link is below as well as the text from a recent IRS press release.

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=210357,00.html