More and more charities are reporting fundraising expenses as $0 to the IRS and it is raising concerns about financial reporting and transparency. Officials at many of these charities defend their reporting by claiming revenues came from government contracts, which they claim are a business development cost and not a fundraising expense. Others claim using unpaid volunteers to raise funds. And still others admitted that they may have understated their fundraising expenses in an effort to minimize their overall administrative costs in order to appear to be more "efficient." This goes to the heart of an ongoing debate in the nonprofit sector. Many experts argue that the emphasis on keeping administrative costs low is compromising nonprofit's ability to do their work, while others argue that transparency and accurate reporting is most important. Read the entire article here.
The Community Foundation of Utah
