
Form 990 Privacy Objections and Answers
We’ve heard every one of these. At conferences, in webinars, over the phone, and from members of the public who found their organization on our
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We’ve heard every one of these. At conferences, in webinars, over the phone, and from members of the public who found their organization on our

2026 is the first year for several major changes to the charitable deduction, and the rules are different from last year’s. Non-itemizers can now deduct cash gifts, itemizers face a new 0.5% floor, and top-bracket donors see a 35% cap. Here are the year-end deadlines for every gift type, from stock and wires to QCDs and donor-advised funds, plus the planning moves that matter most before December 31. Miss a deadline, and you may miss a deduction for 2026.

Your donors have attorneys for the money. Who’s handling the meaning? As $124 trillion passes to U.S. heirs, Cliff Thomas, CAP®, lays out three ways families can pass on their values. The gift officers who start that conversation will be the ones the next generation calls. Everyone else will hear about the gift from the estate attorney.

Volunteering on a nonprofit board can protect you. It does not excuse you. State attorneys general, the IRS, fellow directors and even the nonprofit itself can hold board members accountable. Here is who enforces the rules, what really protects you, and the four situations that create personal liability: self-dealing, overpaid insiders, ignored red flags and unpaid payroll taxes.

Most nonprofit board members approve a Form 990 they never read and ignore the largest gifts their organization will ever receive. That’s attendance, not governance. This guide explains what your fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and obedience require, from financial oversight and conflicts of interest to major gifts, planned giving and endowment management, plus 12 questions every board should ask.

Many fundraising strategies that proved effective in 2025 were driven by anticipation. Donors accelerated gifts, advanced multi-year commitments, and responded to urgency-based messaging as tax

Donors are reading your Form 990, and most of them never call. What they want to know is whether your nonprofit is planning for the next 50 years. Major gifts matter, but planned giving belongs at the start of your fundraising strategy because it shows you are planning for the future. Here’s why wealthy donors, foundations and government funders all judge you the same way, and how to show them your future.

We spend enormous amounts of time talking about our missions and values, but we don’t always talk about the culture that determines whether those values actually come to life.

Whether you’re a community foundation sharing grant outcomes, a nonprofit reporting program results, or a university connecting scholarship donors to students, the moment your donor hears from or about the person their money reached is rarely given the strategic attention it deserves.