&t North Country Consulting: June 2008

Saturday, June 28, 2008

New 990: Part VI

Part VI of the core of the new Form 990 for exempt organizations requests information about policies regarding governance, management, and disclosure. This information isn't required by the Internal Revenue Code, but the responses will flow through the 990 to guidestar.org and other Web locations. This is the aspect of the new form that will change the world for some non-profits and their funders. Nothing prevents an organization from giving the "wrong" answer to a question or from providing a phrase such as "flipping a coin" for the Schedule O documentation of procedures. However, those responses will be out there, and the non-profit food chain can deal with them as it sees fit. Funders and the media will have a powerful tool to penetrate the sometimes murky inner workings of non-profits.

Here's Part VI from the IRS Draft

Part VI Governance, Management, and Disclosure

(Sections A, B, and C request information about policies not required by the Internal Revenue Code.)

Section A. Governing Body and Management

For each “Yes” response to lines 2-7 below, and for a “No” response to lines 8 or 9b below, describe the
circumstances, process, or changes in Schedule O. See instructions.

1 a Enter the number of voting members of the governing body
b Enter the number of voting members that are independent

2 Did any officer, director, trustee, or key employee have a family relationship or a business relationship with any other officer, director, trustee, or key employee?

3 Did the organization delegate control over management duties customarily performed by or under the directt supervision of officers, directors or trustees, or key employees to a management company or other person?

4 Did the organization make any significant changes to its organizational documents since the prior Form 990 was filed?

5 Did the organization become aware during the year of a material diversion of the organization’s assets?

6 Does the organization have members or stockholders?

7 a Does the organization have members, stockholders, or other persons who may elect one or more members of the governing body?
b Are any decisions of the governing body subject to approval by members, stockholders, or other persons?

8 Did the organization contemporaneously document the meetings held or written actions undertaken during
the year by the following:
a the governing body?
b each committee with authority to act on behalf of the governing body?

9 a Does the organization have local chapters, branches, or affiliates?
b If “Yes,” does the organization have written policies and procedures governing the activities of such chapters,
affiliates, and branches to ensure their operations are consistent with those of the organization?

10 Was a copy of the Form 990 provided to the organization’s governing body before it was filed? All organizations
must describe in Schedule O the process, if any, the organization uses to review the Form 990

11 Is there any officer, director or trustee, or key employee listed in Part VII, Section A, who cannot be reached at
the organization’s mailing address? If “Yes,” provide the names and addresses in Schedule O

Section B. Policies

12 a Does the organization have a written conflict of interest policy? If yes:
b Are officers, directors or trustees, and key employees required to disclose annually interests that could give
rise to conflicts?
c Does the organization regularly and consistently monitor and enforce compliance with the policy? If “Yes,”
describe in Schedule O how this is done

13 Does the organization have a written whistleblower policy?

14 Does the organization have a written document retention and destruction policy?

15 Did the process for determining compensation of the following persons include a review and approval by
independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision:
a The organization’s CEO, Executive Director, or top management official?
b Other officers or key employees of the organization?
Describe the process in Schedule O.

16 a Did the organization invest in, contribute assets to, or participate in a joint venture or similar arrangement
with a taxable entity during the year?
b If “Yes,” has the organization adopted a written policy or procedure requiring the organization to evaluate
its participation in joint venture arrangements under applicable Federal tax law, and taken steps to safeguard
the organization’s exempt status with respect to such arrangements?

Section C. Disclosure

17 List the States with which a copy of this Form 990 is required to be filed.

18 IRC Section 6104 requires an organization to make its Form 1023 (or 1024 if applicable), 990, and 990-T (501(c)(3)s only)
available for public inspection. Indicate how you make these available. Check all that apply.
own website
another's website
upon request

19 Describe in Schedule O whether (and if so, how), the organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest
policy, and financial statements available to the public.

20 State the name, physical address, and telephone number of the person who possesses the books and records of the
organization:

Friday, June 27, 2008

New Requirements for Public Disclosure by Non-Profits

With the first tax-exempt returns for a fiscal year starting in 2008, new forms will be used and new standards will apply. This is the long-awaited step forward in transparency and board accountability we've been waiting for. There's an excellent summary of the issues on Patterson Belknap's Web site here.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Taking a Meeting with the FCC

FCC staff met with representatives of Verizon Wireless and Rural Cellular (Unicel) last Tuesday (June 17) to go over the Department of Justice proposed Final Judgment settling the objections to the sale.

Presumably this process is winding down. Could it be in place by July 11 to roll out the new iPhone?

Monday, June 16, 2008

Movement on Verizon/Unicel

This is an 84-page PDF containing a cover letter from Verizon's attorneys and supporting documents. The Department of Justice has cleared the Rural Cellular (Unicel)/Verizon transaction subject to Verizon's divestiture of some wireless properties (this is the Vermont/Plattsburgh Unicel service that will presumably be traded to AT&T...hence the iPhone). This much has been reported in the local press.

I haven't seen the documents in this FCC filing linked here reported on. Perhaps most important is Verizon's proposed Final Judgment for the divestiture which now includes a definitive statement that southern Vermont GSM users will still have GSM service (at least as I read it).

We're moving ahead.

Monday, June 9, 2008

More on iPhone...

Apple announced that the new 3G iPhone will be available July 11. It will be $199 (8GB) and $299 (16GB). I assume we may have to wait for 3G coverage in this region, but perhaps by then we'll have something.

Columbia County Board of Elections Site

Just in time for this morning's Roundtable discussion of politics and the Web, the Register-Star (Hudson) announces the Columbia County Board of Elections Site. They get credit for doing it, and extra credit for accidentally doing it just when we're talking about these issues.

The results for previous elections are posted as PDF files, which means these aren't live data feeds--probably not bad for a BOE because the local media should be picking up non-final results as they come.

Anyone else have a BOE site to recommend?

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Roundtable, Monday 6/9, 11 AM

It's that time of month again. This month, we'll be talking about political Web sites, and how they reflect on politicians. Some are great, some are not so great. Question: can a politician who doesn't understand the Web be trusted to provide leadership on public matters that include today's technology? We're not suggesting politicians sit down and write code, but they should give us reason to trust their technological judgment as it will apply to the matters of the day.

This notion got a bit out of hand, and I whipped up a Facebook app. to list and rate political Web sites. If anyone wants to join in the fun, it's at http://apps.facebook.com/goodbadandpolitical/.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Alas, the rumored June 2 date for the great switch has come and gone. The FCC is silent on the Verizon/Unicel transaction (the Web page hasn't been updated for a month, and the annotated timeline has never been updated).

Still, AT&T shows coverage for the city of Plattsburgh. This may be related to the announcement this week that AT&T is continuing to roll out higher-speed 3G technology. And that one may be related to the consensus that Apple's World Wide Developer Conference on Monday will feature an announcement of the new iPhone.