8-7-07 Boot Camp Questions

From the August 7 Boot Camp in Eureka:

Q: How many years do we keep donation records?
A: I have not found any official record keeping guidelines but looking at samples of other organizations in seem to range from 5 years to permanently, the latter for donated works of art, etc. My guess is that as long as you maintain a donor database of any kind you will want to maintain a record of anything that person has given you.

Q: Are the administrative charges from a fiscal sponsor an admin expense or program?
A: From what I have been able to find it is an admin expense. Lots of great info on fiscal sponsorships can be found here.

Q: Are donations to churches subject to the $250.00 threshold?
A: Yes. If a person donated $250.00 or more to a church, or any nonprofit for that matter, they must get proof of that donation from the church or charity. But Separate contributions are not aggregated for purposes of measuring the $250 threshold. For more information on churches, religious organizations and the IRS download this nice document. For others get the donation publication from the IRS is this blogs resources section.

Q: Should we list the building a nonprofit owns at its assessed value or its market value?
A: From what I can find out now and what I remember from my accounting classes you would use the assessed value as it is documented and verifiable.

Anybody have different answers to these questions? Post them in the comments below. Did I forget anyones questions? Post them below too.