This post from Jim Ulvog reminds us
that if the nonprofit knows the name of its donor, they can’t be listed as
Anonymous of Schedule B of Form 990. Schedule
B is an attachment to your Form 990 that lists the names of all contributors
and the amount they contributed.
Generally the listing is for donations over $5,000 or over 2% of total
contributions for certain circumstances.
This can be disconcerting to
nonprofits who want to honor a donors request to be anonymous. However there are a few things a nonprofit
can do. Schedule B is only required to
be submitted to the IRS. It should not
be submitted as part of the return copy that goes with your state registration.
Schedule B is not published on
Guidestar. If you provide others with copies of your Form
990 make sure to extract Schedule B. A
practical tip—when you receive a PDF of your Form 990 from your accounting firm
extract Schedule B. Keep the full copy
in one location on your network that is only available to the Executive
Director or Finance Officer and make sure that the copy that does not include
Schedule B is the copy that is available to everyone.
If a donor approaches you and wishes
to make an anonymous contribution, advise them of the need to report their name
to the IRS on Schedule B and inform them of the steps you take to keep Schedule
B confidential. You can also let them know
that they can make the contribution through a third party so that you would not
be aware of their identify and therefore they would truly be anonymous.
