Foundation Group » Education

Nonprofits: Is Your Tax Preparer Registered With The IRS?

Greg McRay — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:30:28 +0000

It is an unfortunate reality: many self-described tax professionals are not professionals at all. They are more than willing to take a customer’s money for “professional” work that often results in a nightmare situation for the taxpayer. This includes those who advertise services to help nonprofits with IRS Form 1023, the application for 501(c)(3) status [...]

Year-End To-Do List for Nonprofits

Greg McRay — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:46:20 +0000

Well, we are pretty much down to it. There are only a few weeks left in 2011…and during much of that time, most of us will be preoccupied with all things Christmas. But in all the hustle and bustle, there are a few things regarding your nonprofit that require your attention. The following is a [...]

What Is Your Conflict-Of-Interest Score?

Greg McRay — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:47:42 +0000

A Self-Assessment Having worked with thousands of nonprofits over the years, we have seen just about every possible scenario you could think of. At least it seems that way! One of the most common issues we encounter, especially with startups, is conflict-of-interest. It is usually of the innocent variety, meaning that the people involved didn’t [...]

Six Ways to Really Scare Away Your Donors

Greg McRay — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:41:47 +0000

Halloween is upon us...and there is no more appropriate topic that we could cover than how to effectively scare away donors. In the, um, spirit of the season, let's look at six ways to guarantee donors will want nothing to do with you!

The Other Nonprofits – 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6) & 501(c)(7)

Greg McRay — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:30:41 +0000

Note: This article was originally posted in June 2009. It has been one of the most read articles we have ever written, averaging nearly 1,000 views per month 2 years after publication. We are re-posting it for those who may have missed it the first time around. The king of the nonprofit world is the [...]

10 Business Essentials for Nonprofits

Greg McRay — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:00:13 +0000

It often seems that when otherwise business-savvy individuals become involved in a nonprofit organization, they set aside all they ever learned in business and proceed to operate their nonprofit as if business rules do not matter. As most soon find out, they matter a lot. In this post, let’s take a look (in no particular [...]

Results From Our Email Survey

Greg McRay — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:28:18 +0000

Approximately 30,000 people were invited to participate in a survey designed to evaluate topics for online learning through Foundation Group. We asked questions about your level of interest in topics to help your nonprofit succeed. We also asked questions about your specific nonprofit organization. Now you can see how the answers you gave about your nonprofit compare and contrast with [...]

IRS To Publish Revocations of Tax Exemption

Greg McRay — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:21:26 +0000

The day some nonprofits have dreaded is coming soon. The IRS announced on February 24, 2011 that it will soon publish the list of 501(c) nonprofit organizations that had their tax exemption automatically revoked for nonfiling of Form 990 information returns. This list, officially called the Nonfiler Revocation List, will be updated monthly once it [...]

Thoughts On Nonprofit Leadership (Part I)

Greg McRay — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:30:07 +0000

The word “leader” conjures up a variety of images: your old Little League coach, a military general, your boss…even the president of the United States. Regardless of who (or what) comes to mind, there is the common thread of someone who leads. But what does leadership really mean? Certainly it means more than just being [...]

Foundation Group Blog Named Tops for Nonprofit Leaders

Greg McRay — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:18:38 +0000

We don’t often toot our own horn around here, but today we are making a rare exception. Foundation Group’s blog was just named among the top 50 blog sites for nonprofit leaders by BSchool.com. Thanks to BSchool for the recognition. We appreciate your support. Congratulations to our friend, Sandy Rees, whose blog is also on [...]