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Time to write the IRS Next Monday (February 23, 1998) is the due date for comments on a proposal from the Internal Revenue Service to reduce the number of tax-exempt charities required to file annual information returns -- the familiar Form 990. I think this proposal is a mistake. If adopted, it would make it more difficult for researchers and policy makers to work from an accurate impression of the scope and significance of America's nonprofits. It would also make it harder for individuals to find out facts about organizations which provide critical services in their communities or benefits to the public at large. State and local regulators rely on the 990 as a source of background information on questioned organizations. They often find their concerns have been aroused unnecessarily simply from a review of this publicly available data. And, speaking of data, both the National Center for Charitable Statistics (http://nccs.urban.org/) and Guidestar (http://www.guidestar.org/) rely on information from 990s for the information they provide to all comers over the internet and into other ways -- NCCS has statistical profiles of the nonprofit sector state-by-state; Guidestar allows individuals to look at profiles of hundreds of thousands of charities online and places them in context through newsclips and other background information. You can read a fuller statement of my views on this subject (as published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on February 12) by http://www.nonprofit-info.org/misc/9802chron.html . The original notice from the IRS is also online at http://www.nonprofit-info.org/misc/irs97-115.html .
The address for sending comments is:
Remember that the deadline is Monday, February 23, 1998.
--Putnam Barber |
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