Some answers to questions posed at the Eureka boot camp

Q: Why is the Chart of Accounts numbered?

A: To make it easier to index and catalogue your chart items and when you had to do accounting on ledger sheets by hand it was easier to write 2010 that “accounts receivable – grants receivable” in the little green spaces.

Q: Is a PSA donated air time or contractual obligation?

A: From what I have been able to dig up it is a donation even though they are required to make the time available.

Q: Specifics for letter to a donor, what the nonprofit gives them.

A: See the link in the IRS section to the right labeled, “Contributions Guidelines for Donors.”

Q: A nonprofit gives money to a community foundation to create an endowment. Is that money permanently restricted?

A: From what I have found it all depends on how you create it. Can you revoke the “gift” to yourself? I would guess that the money would be treated as permanently restricted until the nonprofit changes the status. It is different to me than a board designated fund always being considered unrestricted because in the above question you are giving control of the money to another organization.

Q: How to book membership income when the “membership” is actually a donation?

A: If your group solicits membership as a way of soliciting donations but no real value is exchanged for the membership, that membership is considered a donation and entered on your books as such. If the “member” gets a tote bag or equivalent item with their membership the value of that is deducted from the contribution and put into the earned income section.

Q: Are volunteers reported under a nonprofit’s worker compensation insurance?

A: By law, workers' compensation benefits for volunteers are not required. A volunteer who does not receive compensation for his or her work is not entitled to workers' compensation benefits, unless the agency for which the volunteer works chooses to provide these benefits (See Labor Code Section 3363.5).

I don’t claim to have all the right answers listed, just what I have been able to find through my research. Anyone have any different ones? Post them in the comments please!