In today’s litigious society, anyone—including your foundation and the individuals associated with it—may be the target of a lawsuit. Although state and federal laws may provide some protection for your board members and volunteers, this immunity will extend to your organization in only a few states. These laws often contain no protection for legal expenses,... Read More
Exponent Philanthropy Board Member and Foundation Consultant Jeff Glebocki of Strategy+Action Philanthropy recently assisted a small-staffed, private foundation in a planned leadership transition of its chief executive who had a tenure of 20-plus years. To get a sense of how other foundations approached creative retirement/transition packages for long-serving foundation chief executives, he posted a listserv... Read More
As a private foundation, you are required to make the following documents available to the public: Form 990-PF, the annual information return filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for the 3 most recent years Form 1023, the application for federal tax-exempt status (and all related correspondence with the IRS) Form 990-T, the unrelated business... Read More
Taxable expenditures are grants or expenditures made by a private foundation that are either prohibited, or in Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-specified areas without following the strict IRS rules. Read this list of expenditures to know which are prohibited and which require that you comply with specific IRS rules >> Read More
The GuideStar Basic Search is an easy way to access a foundation’s three most recent tax returns. You can request copies from those or other years by using IRS Form 4506-A. Read More
Site visits are a living, breathing grant proposal. These visits give you the chance to connect directly with the organization’s board and staff, discover things that can’t be learned from a written proposal, and clarify information that is important to you. Our publication With Your Own Eyes: Using Site Visits to Make Better Grants and... Read More