NGOs irresponsible, credential them!

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 03:53 PM 6/20/00 -0400, Doug wrote:
>Michael Pollak wrote:
>
>>
>>On Mon, 19 Jun 2000, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>>
>>>  Under the US law, all orgs with expenditure over $25k/year must file
>>>  the 990 form with the IRS.  990 forms are public records, posted on
>>>  the internet.  I do not know how much more disclosure is possible.
>>
>>Really?  I was under the impression that 990's only show aggregate inflows
>>and expenditures, and that the organizations are under no obligations to
>>disclose the details of where their money comes from or how it is
>>spent.  Is this wrong?  Could you give me the URLs of some 990's so I
>>could correct my misimpressions?
>
>990s don't have to go into much detail, and entities are only 
>required to keep copies available for inspection at their 
>headquarters. Some voluntarily disclose more, and distribute copies 
>more generously, but they don't have to.
>

Technically, 990 contain quite detailed information, some of it quite
sensitive such as amount of public contributions, or executive salaries.
But it is also a known fact that this info is not very reliable.

I do know the URL address where you can get 990 - i get my copy from the
Urban Institute' Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, they distribute the
file on a CD ROM (please contact Elizabeth Boris at EBoris at ui.urban.org for
more info).

wojtek