About Those 990PFs…

Many funders don’t have a website, this is especially true with small family foundations. So, the 990PFs are often the only source of information about them.* Foundations must submit tax reports to the IRS every year. But lately… well, according to Candid (fka Foundation Directory Online), “before the pandemic, Candid usually received comprehensive IRS 990 data about nonprofits and foundations about 1.5–2 years after the close of a given year. After 2020, the time lag is closer to three years.
Reasons include:

• Thousands of filing organizations are requesting extensions.
• The growth of 990PF filers.
•  The IRS is understaffed and going through 990 process changes.

Johnson Center for Philanthropy Reports:
IRS Delays and Other Barriers to Data Mean Real Risks for Nonprofits – Mandatory electronic filing of all 990 tax forms after July 19 has made every field on those forms accessible electronically. The pandemic, however, has caused considerable delays in the IRS release of this data. The Johnson Center report notes, “In September 2022, Candid reported that for 990s filed for tax year 2019 and later, the processing delay for most organizations is now well over 36 months.” Other data concerns include the lack of information about communities and populations served by specific nonprofits and the dependence on private giving at most organizations that track philanthropic data.

*This delay makes it tougher to gather information, so AP has expanded our personal phone and email outreach to foundation personnel and we’re using more foundation website and even Google searches to fill in the blanks