In the wake of scandals related to the misappropriation of funds and other dubious activities in the nonprofit world, the IRS issued a revised Form 990. The changes are designed to increase nonprofits’ transparency and accountability by requiring the disclosure of more information related to donations, compensation, and board governance. The impact for nonprofit organizations may be: increased cost and effort at audit time.

Effective on fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2008, the new IRS Form 990 requires staff and board members to become more “hands on” completing the form as they provide evidence of how policies, such as the Conflict of Interest Statement, were implemented. In the past, the form 990 has been largely completed by auditors, but Bill Oswald, CPA, of accounting firm Holmes, Simmons & Oswald, PC, recommends nonprofits should consider taking steps to be fully prepared for the new form’s changes to save on audit expense. “Nonprofits ought to find secure and cost effective ways to gather pertinent information on their operation for accurate reporting on the Form 990, and not rely solely on their auditors,” Bill recommends.

Now is the time for nonprofits to explore solutions to facilitate the collection and organization of internal information related to the new Form 990.

Board portals – such as BoardEffect^® – are a viable solution.

A board portal is a secure website developed specifically for boards of directors that can assist nonprofits in successfully fulfilling the requirements of the new Form 990.  Below are some of the requirements of the new Form 990 and specific options available in BoardEffect^® to help address the requirements.

1. Keeping records associated with “changes to organizational documents, policies and procedures governing chapters”

   BoardEffect^® offers a secure space where Board Manual documents can be uploaded and stored indefinitely. When uploaded, a document is automatically dated and users of the portal are notified.  

2. Documentation of meetings and actions

   In the Meeting Books space that BoardEffect® provides, board members can post meeting information; including the agenda, the minutes, and any other attachments. Additionally, the portal records the title, date, and time of each meeting.

3. Governing body review of Form 990

   BoardEffect^® provides a Resource Library where forms and other documents can be uploaded. The Resource Library also contains a toolkit which offers 240+ sample policies in the following categories: Ethics and Accountability, Board and Board Members, Chief Executive, Finance and Investments, Fundraising, Personnel, and Communications.

4. Addresses of officers, directors, etc.

   The Directory in BoardEffect^® captures that information, and allows board members to save their contact list as a PDF or to export it in Excel.

5. Enforcement of conflicts policy

   BoardEffect^® offers a Discussion Forum space, where board members can hold discussions; including a conflict of interest that they may be facing.  In addition to recording the exchanges, the portal captures the date/s that the discussions occur, and the discussion title. The portal also provides a section for open and closed discussions.

Interested in learning more?

Contact BoardEffect® today!

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BoardEffect^® case study of the Enterprise Center to be featured in Nonprofit World Magazine. Look for it in your newsstand!

Like many other nonprofit organizations, The Enterprise Center, a nonprofit organization providing business-acceleration services designed to aid minority enterprises to compete in the local, regional and global economies, was experiencing difficulty in managing administrative and managerial duties essential to its success---not anymore.  Board members researched multiple technology solutions to solve their issues and after completing an online tour of BoardEffect^®’s board portal, believed the latter would greatly benefit their organization and would enable them to be more efficient.

BoardEffect^® was able to assist the board in the following areas:

• Securely store information

  Board members were able to securely store their information in one place using the password-protected software and were consequently able to resolve their document management issues.

• Saving Money

  Board members were also able to cut down on costs; such as express delivery of documents, paper, and publishing thus alleviating their financial restraints.

• Saving Time

  Board members were able to reorganize their administrative staffing structure and to focus on doing the work instead of searching for documents, thus increasing their productivity and efficiency.

Before BoardEffect®	After BoardEffect®
Understaffing resulted in high administrative staff demands	Administrative staff time was decreased using BoardEffect®’s portal which allowed all members to access documents stored in the portal, to schedule and have meetings, to  hold online votes, etc …
Limited resources resulted in financial constraints	The decrease in Administrative staff time led to savings. Since every function is now performed in BoardEffect®, expenses related to conference planning for instance, which include paper and delivery fees have greatly been reduced.
Staff turnover affected board relations and communications	BoardEffect® is a portal, not a liaison- thus ensuring continuity.
Security concerns	BoardEffect®’s password protected site is more secure than traditional email and documents can be made only viewable to selected committee members.  In addition, members get updates on changes made to information housed in BoardEffect®.

Click here for more information on The Enterprise Center case study »

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BoardEffect^® team welcomes our partners

Visit these partner websites to learn more about the individuals and organizations that choose to support BoardEffect^®.

Alliance for Nonprofit Management, Washington, DC
BoardEffect^® is part of the Alliance’s Business Partners Program

BoardSource, Washington, DC
BoardEffect^® is a Licensed Content Partner

The Center for Nonprofit Excellence, Louisville, KY
BoardEffect Referral Partner

GovernBest, Nashville, TN
BoardEffect^® Reseller Partner

The Governance Institute, Lincoln, NE
BoardEffect^® Reseller Partner

The Leadership Group, Trenton, NJ
BoardEffect^® Referral Partner

Leadership Recruiters, Wynnewood, PA
BoardEffect^® Referral Partner

The Stamm Consultancy, Media, PA
BoardEffect^® Reseller Partner

The Vianova Group, San Diego, CA
BoardEffect^® Reseller Partner

Click here for information on partnership opportunities with BoardEffect!

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The successful implementation of a board portal should follow a “cycled” approach, which begins with careful planning, and ends with analysis that helps to inform future goals.  The cycle includes the following steps:

1. Planning

   Identify the specific goals the board portal needs to meet.  The more concrete and specific the goals, the better able you will be to implement specific tools that fit your board’s needs.  Also identify the group of initial users who will help with the set-up, and encourage others to actively use the portal.

2. Buying/ Building

   Once you’ve identified your board’s goals and needs, you can match potential solutions to your needs.  Your exploration and review of available solutions can ensure that the selected tool corresponds to the goals.

3. Implementing

   Consider a phased approach -- introducing new features over time, and providing appropriate training as it’s needed -- as the portal is being implemented so that the board isn’t overwhelmed by the portal.

4. Evaluating

   Once the board has been using the portal for a while, the tool should be assessed and any unmet needs documented. The results should be analyzed – in terms of the success at meeting the initial goals, how well the tool performed (vs. if there were problems experienced that had more to do with the users than the tool)

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