The New 990

We've been hearing about the new Form 990 for several years now. It's been so long, in fact, that it's been fairly easy (until now) to tune out the discussion. Well, the new form has been out for a little while now, and the draft instructions have recently been published. Bring on the seminars!

If you've been skeptical about whether the form would really be all that different, let me introduce you with a little taste of Section VI -- Governance .

Do you have a written conflict of interest policy? Do you have a written whistleblower policy? Do you have a document retention and destruction policy? Can you document the process for determining compensation for your Executive Director? Are you still breathing? Are you OK?

First, remind yourself that everything's going to be fine. It's all going to be OK. But if you don't have one of these policies, it's time to start thinking about it.

Stay tuned for more from PCMI on the new 990. We're putting together a program that'll happen soon. In the meantime, I'll link you to some comments from a recent lectures by Steven T. Miller, the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner for Tax Exempt and Government Entities, who has been one of the driving forces behind these changes. The first talk is about the IRS and its interest in nonprofit governance. The second is about efficiency and effectiveness (but it talks about governance too).