All Resources
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Document Retention & Destruction Guidelines
Sample Document
This Document Retention and Destruction Policy of the Council on Foundations ("the Council") identifies the record retention responsibilities of staff, volunteers, members of the Board of Directors, and outsiders for maintaining and documenting the storage and destruction of the Council’s documents…
Public Disclosure Requirements for Foundations
Legal Compliance Guidance
Every organization exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code is required to disclose certain information to the public:
The organization’s exemption application, Form 1023, is subject to public disclosure, along with any documents supporting the application and any letters from…
IRS FAQs about Public Disclosure Requirements
External Resource
Tax-exempt organizations must make annual returns and exemption applications filed with the IRS available for public inspection and copying upon request. In addition, the IRS makes these documents available. These FAQs relate to the public disclosure and availability of documents filed by tax-…
Compensate Your Board? Legal and Ethical Considerations
Legal Compliance Guidance
Can we pay our board members? Should we?
The issue of whether to pay foundation board members is always a controversial topic. Expect the media, regulators, general public, and even your grantees to scrutinize the decisions you make.
What is legal?
Though the rules may vary slightly by type of…
Executive Compensation Best Practices
Legal Compliance Guidance
The Internal Revenue Code provides excise tax penalties that can be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service whenever unreasonable or excessive compensation is paid to high-level employees of charitable organizations.
Over and above any legal requirements or public scrutiny, good stewards of…
Reporting and Classification of Assets Under UPMIFA
Legal Compliance Guidance
This memorandum considers whether adoption of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) requires changes to existing guidance regarding the reporting and classification of assets held by community foundations. Current guidance is incorporated in a 1997 memorandum, Report on…
Legal and Accounting Challenges of Underwater Endowment Funds
Legal Compliance Guidance
By Susan E. Budak and Susan N. Gary
The widespread adoption of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) across the country has already been of great help to charities, in part because the financial markets collapsed just months after the uniform act was approved. Most, if…
Investment Management Practice Tips and Resources
Legal Compliance Guidance
Practice 1. The board (and investment committee and staff, if any) of a foundation should understand and fulfill their respective fiduciary responsibilities and duties under applicable law and the governing documents of the foundation and stay informed regarding any relevant changes in law, duties…
Working with a Donor's Investment Manager
Legal Compliance Guidance
“If I create a fund at the community foundation, can my investment manager still manage the funds?” You may have already come across a donor that asked this question. Such a donor is essentially requesting that the fund they create be invested outside of the foundation’s investment pool(s). While…
IRS Audit Survival Tips
Legal Compliance Guidance
Things to do NOW – “An Ounce of Prevention...”
Review your organization’s activities – seems simple and basic, but the IRS will be certainly asking about them and the audit context is not the time to learn about someone’s pet project for the first time. Do you have documentation to establish the…
IRS Search Tool: Select Check
External Resource
Grantmakers searching for more detailed information about the charitable status of their potential grantees may find the answers they need in the IRS Select Check tool.
This IRS online search tool allows the user to:
(1) search the IRS public charity list, known as IRS Publication 78, for data to…
Explanation of Proposed Treasury Regulations: Reliance Standards for Making Good Faith Determinations of Equivalency Determinations
Legal Compliance Guidance
September 24, 2012
The Department of Treasury and the IRS issued proposed regulations applicable to private foundations seeking to make grants to foreign organizations using equivalency determinations. The guidance broadens the range of professionals on whose written advice a private foundation…
Analysis of Type III Supporting Organization Regulations Issued December 28, 2012
Legal Compliance Guidance
On December 28, 2012, the Treasury Department and IRS issued final and temporary regulations on Type III supporting organizations. Simultaneously, proposed regulations were issued regarding payout for Type III non-functionally integrated supporting organizations. This analysis focuses on the areas…
2009 Survey on Donor Advised Funds: Donor Advised Funds Provide the Majority of Grant Funds Awarded by Community Foundations
Research
Donor-advised funds are increasing in number and importance in the U.S. as more individuals, families, and organizations adopt this vehicle of philanthropic giving. A donor-advised fund enables a third party, usually a community foundation or other institution, to manage and distribute funds to…
Disaster Grantmaking: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations
Publication
Moved by widely publicized human suffering and increased disaster aid requests, foundations and corporations are becoming more active in the disaster relief field. Grantmakers have a distinct role to play in disasters because of their ongoing relations with grantees, long-term perspective,…
1969 Private Foundation Law: Historical Perspective on Its Origins and Underpinnings
Publication
The Tax Reform Act of 1969 contains major provisions that affect the way private foundations do business. In this paper, Thomas A. Troyer, an attorney who collaborated with the Council as Congress developed the law, recalls what motivated Congress to place severe restrictions on private foundations…
