The Santa Barbara Foundation (“Foundation”) is a community foundation established in 1928 to serve the needs of the people of Santa Barbara County, California. With nearly a billion in assets, the Foundation offers a variety of giving vehicles, engages in grantmaking, and leads initiatives across multiple basic needs and equitable opportunity focus areas. The Foundation’s …
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Interview with Sue Parks of Orange County’s United Way
Orange County’s United Way (“OC United Way”) is a human services organization that invests in the communities it serves by delivering education, financial security, and housing programs throughout Orange County, California. OC United Way also operates 211OC, a basic needs referral hotline accessed by over a hundred and thirty thousand residents a year. The Law …
Interview with Destiny Lilly of Casting Society of America
Casting Society of America (“CSA”) is a global membership organization of casting professionals dedicated to upholding the highest standards of casting within the entertainment industry. CSA celebrates the diverse craft of casting by educating and advocating on behalf of the industry, celebrating the achievements of the casting community, and empowering casting professionals to tell the …
Public Charities and the IRS Public Support Tests: How the IRS Measures Public Support
After identifying whether an organization is a “Donor-Supported” entity (Section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)) or a “Related Revenue” entity (Section 509(a)(2)), which determines which public support rules apply to an organization, the next critical question is how public support is measured. Many nonprofit leaders are surprised to learn that public support is not evaluated on a year-by-year basis, …
Public Charities and the IRS Public Support Tests: Understanding the Two Types of Public Charities
In the prior post in this series, we explored why public support matters and how failure to satisfy the IRS public support rules can result in unintended reclassification as a private foundation. Before an organization can assess whether it is meeting the applicable public support test, however, it must first understand which public support rules …
Public Charities and the IRS Public Support Tests: Why Public Support Matters
Not all public charities are alike, and not all rely on the same sources of funding. While many nonprofit leaders understand the basic requirements for qualification under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), fewer appreciate the ongoing obligation to maintain public charity status through compliance with the IRS public support rules. For boards, …
