4 in 10 Charities Claim No Fundraising Costs on Tax Forms
According to Scripps Howard News Service, thousands of charities do not accurately report to the Internal Revenue Service how they raise money.
Of the nearly 38,000 nonprofits that brought in at least $1 million in gifts, 41 percent reported to the IRS that they spent no money doing so. In total, those groups raised $116.7 billion.
Robert Ottenhoff, head of GuideStar, was quoted in on Philanthropy.com as saying, “It is ridiculous to think an organization could raise significant amounts of money without spending money to do it.” GuideStar provided data for the investigation.
Many charity leaders say they are under pressure from donors to minimize overhead costs, which include fundraising. However, several organizations said they will re-evaluate how they report those costs in the wake of the study, which examined charities’ most recently available informational tax returns.
Nonprofit organizations often find themselves in challenging situations much different than for-profit businesses; yet many times their end goal is extremely similar – earn money in an effective and efficient manner.
At Fundraise.com our goal is to help both small and large organizations raise more money while spending less money to achieve success. Yes, there are definitely costs associated with fundraising, but Fundraise.com aims to keep both human and technology costs to a minimum by including design, emails, analytics, reporting, event tools, CRM/donor management, processing and tech support into our fee.
If your organization is looking to revamp the way you raise funds, we would love to chat with you about how we can help. Email info@fundraise.com or call us at 857.445.4165.
