Hurricane Florence 2018: Non-Profit Lookup and Verification Assistance
You want to help victims of Hurricane Florence? Great! We do to! But before you give money to a relief or non-profit organization, please verify they are legitimate. The best way to do this is to look up the organization’s tax forms or request them directly from the organization. The following article and subsequent lookup sites should help you ascertain that your donation is going to a real and legitimate nonprofit.
What tax documents must an exempt organization make available for public inspection and copying?
According to IRS regulations, all exempt organizations must make its 3 most recently filed annual 990 or 990-PF returns and all related supporting documents available for public review. This public disclosure rule also applies to Form 1023, which is filed to obtain exempt status.
According to the IRS:
“An exempt organization must also make available for public inspection its exemption application. An exemption application includes the Form 1023 or 1023-EZ (for organizations recognized as exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3)), Form 1024 or 1024-A, as applicable, (for organizations recognized as exempt under most other paragraphs of section 501(c)), or the letter submitted under the paragraphs for which no form is prescribed, together with supporting documents and any letter or document issued by the IRS concerning the application. A political organization exempt from taxation under section 527(a) must make available for public inspection and copying its notice of status, Form 8871.”
An exempt organization must also make available for public inspection and copying its annual return. Such returns include:
Form 990i
A section 501(c)(3) organization must make available for public inspection and copying any Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return, filed after August 17, 2006. Returns must be available for a three-year period beginning with the due date of the return (including any extension of time for filing). For this purpose, the return includes any schedules, attachments, or supporting documents that relate to the imposition of tax on the unrelated business income of the charity. See Public Inspection and Disclosure of Form 990-T for more information.
All of these forms can be found at the IRS main site as well as numerous non-profit sites dedicated to ensuring disclosure of all non-profits:
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/
https://www.erieri.com/form990finder
Don’t get scammed…INVESTIGATE BEFORE YOU DONATE!
Contact us at 1-877-SPIERCE if you are not sure or need assistance verifying an organization or shoot us a message at info@strikerpierce.com Subject line: Hurricane Florence 2018
Note: An exempt organization is not required to disclose Schedule K-1 of Form 1065 or Schedule A of Form 990-BL. With the exception of private foundations, an exempt organization is not required to disclose the name and address of any contributor to the organization.