The nonprofit sector and taxes: Invaluable and largely untapped research bases

Skelly, Dan; Steuerle, Eugene

doi:10.1002/nml.4130020410

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Aside from the widely acknowledged skewed sample produced by studying the sector via IRS 990 Returns, which are required only for the roughly 30% of nonprofits meeting the minimum revenue threshold (Hodgkinson et al, 1993), problems associated with failure to file, tracking affiliated or merged organizations, and identifying defunct organizations have surfaced (Bowen et al, 1994;Gronbjerg, 1989Gronbjerg, , 1994. Concerns about the completeness and accuracy of the information have also been raised (Abramson, 1995;Orend, O'Neill, & Mitchell, 1997;Skelly & Steurele, 1992). Inaccuracies might be caused by outside accountants with limited knowledge of individual organizations and their activities, in-house preparation of returns by nonprofit employees with inadequate accounting background (Froelich & Knoepfle, 1996), or unclear guidelines for IRS 990 entry calculations (Gorman & Tanenbaum, 1993).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Measures in Nonprofit Organization Research: Comparing IRS 990 Return and Audited Financial Statement Data

Froelich¹,

Knoepfle

Pollak³

2000

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

156

129

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The IRS 990 Return is becoming an increasingly prominent source of financial data underlying descriptions of the nonprofit sector and studies of nonprofit organizations. However, questions about the quality of the data continue to be of concern. This study of 350 nonprofit organizations investigates the adequacy, reliability, and appropriate interpretation of IRS 990 Return data through comparisons of selected entries with corresponding measures from each organization's audited financial statements. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to examine and explain the consistency between the two data sources. The study concludes that the IRS 990 Return can be considered an adequate and reliable source of financial information for many types of investigations, but preparers and users of the data need a clearer understanding of its purposes to enable appropriate interpretations. The study of nonprofit organizations has historically been a daunting task. The nonprofit sector is noted for its tremendous diversity in size, purpose, and formality of organizations. The research challenge has been compounded by a lack of institutionalized mechanisms for sorting nonprofits into homogeneous Note: We wish to thank the Aspen Institute's Nonprofit Sector Research Fund for support of this study, Joe Galaskiewicz for his skepticism about financial measures in earlier research efforts, Curt Doetkott for statistical expertise, Mike Palmer for data management expertise, Mariya Chuykova for meticulous attention to detail throughout all phases of data collection and analysis, and five anonymous reviewers whose suggestions contributed substantially to this effort. Preliminary results were presented at the 1996 annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference; an earlier version of this article was presented at the 1997 Academy of Management national meeting.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Measures in Nonprofit Organization Research: Comparing IRS 990 Return and Audited Financial Statement Data

Froelich¹,

Knoepfle

Pollak³

2000

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

156

129

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“…This would permit an examination of organisational structures composed of different business types, such as hospitals. 4 Also see Skelly and Steuerle (1992) for a discussion of non-profit research databases. 5 Charitable organisations exempt under IRC 501(c)(3) are hereinafter referred to as 'non-profit charitable organisations'.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tax-based research and data on non-profit organisations

Skelly

1994

Voluntas

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Tax-exempt, non-profit organisations represent a significant and growing sector within the US economy. Between 1975 and1990, assets of tax-exempt organisations increased in real terms by over 150 per cent while the revenue increased by over 227 per cent. This compares to a growth in real GDP of 52 per cent over the same period. A variety of tax policy issues on tax-exempt organisations and the non-profit sector can be addressed using several sources of data collected by the IRS from federal information and tax returns of exempt organisations. The Statistics of Income (SOI) Division, using sample data, conducts studies of many of the different components of the tax-exempt sector, including non-profit charitable organisations, organisations exempt under sections 501(c)(4)-(c)(9), private foundations and 4947(a) charitable trusts, and the unrelated business income of tax-exempt organisations. Income statement, balance sheet and other financial data, as well as a great m o u n t of non-financial information, are collected in these SOI studies. The primary purposes of this article are: first, to document the role of the non-profit sector in the US economy and the evolving growth and change within the sector from the mid-1970s through to the present; and, second, to describe the ongoing SOI studies of tax-exempt organisations, the products and services available through SOI, and the future statistical plans at SOI for data collection and analysis of tax-exempt organisations and the non-profit sector.

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“…(Correlations are reported on Table 1.) Some authors have claimed that the financial data from 990s is questionable (Skelly and Steuerle 1992), while others have concluded that information from the forms is fairly reliable (Froelich et al 2000;Gantz 1999). Despite any criticisms of 990s, they are the "best source of data" for nonprofit-based research (Lampkin and Boris 2002).…”

Section: Measuring Lobbying and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Advocacy Inequalities among Nonprofits: Do Mission and Tax Status Make Differences

Chand¹

2016

ARP

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Scholars have long recognized the high levels of participation by organized business in the “pressure system” (Baumgartner and Leech 2001; Schattschneider 1960; Scholzman and Tierney 1986) and have recently begun studying charitable group involvement, or lack thereof, in the policy influence process (Berry and Arons 2003; Berry 2005 and 2006). Few studies, however, have made comparisons of activities across interest group sectors; and none have done so focusing exclusively on nonprofit associations. This study contributes to the recent nonprofit lobbying literature by examining the lobbying activities of membership associations that issue legislator ratings, or “scorecards.” Creating a sample from scorecard-issuing groups limits focus to nonprofits that have an indicated interest in congressional policy. Specifically, this study attempts to determine if business associations spend significantly more and charitable associations significantly less on lobbying activities. Using analysis of variance methods, the author finds that business associations do spend significantly more on lobbying than their charitable and ideological tax-exempt counterparts. Labor unions fall somewhere in between business and charitable and ideological groups. Finally, groups employing “complex organizational structures” (Boris and Krehely 2002; Reid 2001) lobby at higher levels than groups with one tax status, although this finding does not apply to charitable groups.

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The nonprofit sector and taxes: Invaluable and largely untapped research bases

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Financial Measures in Nonprofit Organization Research: Comparing IRS 990 Return and Audited Financial Statement Data

Financial Measures in Nonprofit Organization Research: Comparing IRS 990 Return and Audited Financial Statement Data

Tax-based research and data on non-profit organisations

Advocacy Inequalities among Nonprofits: Do Mission and Tax Status Make Differences

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