The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "tax-exempt" ...
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Tipsheet for Reporting on Economic Development Subsidies & Recipient Companies
LeRoy offers lots of helpful tips and websites for reporting on subsidy programs in your state.
Tags: subsidies; TIFs; EMMA; tax-exempt
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Forming and Operating a Tax-Exempt Journalism Organization
Hermes extensively lays out what it means to be a tax-exempt journalism organization and the history behind it and provides legal resources for anyone interested in starting their own nonprofit center.
Tags: nonprofits; tax-exempt; 990; 501(c)(3)
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Dissecting 990s
Kamb explains the 990 tax form that nonprofits must submit to the IRS in lieu of a tax return. He discusses who files them; variations of the form; resources for understanding them; your rights in requesting them; where to request a 990; and problems & limitations. He also includes a detailed comparison of the old vs. new 990 forms.
Tags: nonprofit; charity; tax form; tax-exempt; taxpayer bill of rights; Guidestar; Internal Revenue Service; IRS; transparency
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Paper and Databse Trails
Hall discusses the information that an investigative reporter can gather from various data sources including documents and databases. The tipsheet provides a list of documents/records and what sort of information you can anticipate finding with each given example
Tags: documents; FOI; databases; audits; payroll documents; police reports; correspondence; reports; annual budgets; overtime; purchasing records; contracts; campaign finance reports; test scores; tax-exempt organizations; inspection reports
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Belief is in the document: Tips on investigating religion
Gorski discusses various aspects of covering religion. The tipsheet includes advice about where to find church records such as 990s, applications for property tax exemptions, and articles of incorporation. The tipsheet also explains what each type of record could reveal about the church.
Tags: religion; beat reporting; churches; nonprofits
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The Best Search Tools for Digging Into Nonprofits
This tipsheet offers various sources that could aid journalists in investigating nonprofit organizations. Lorek specifically mentions Guidestar, the Better Business Bureau and several other websites. The tipsheet includes information about gaining access to the websites, as well as what journalists might expect to find at each one. She also explains some of the technical information about nonprofits, such as how they file for taxes.
Tags: nonprofit; 990; Guidestar; Better Business Bureau; National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; charity; Foundation Center; IRS; tax exempt
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A Whole New Game
Hoholik gives some tips on reporting on high school athletic associations as nonprofit organizations. The handout includes useful web addresses.
Tags: tax-exempt status; tournaments; spreadsheets; 990 form; Ohio
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Where on the Web?
Listed here are Web sites for finding out information about particular tax exempt organizations, the nonprofit sector, data, and the IRS rules and searches.
Tags: tax exempt; charity; not-for-profit; National Center for Charitable Statistics; Guidestar; philanthropy; charity
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Nonprofits; Deciphering the Documents
Nonprofits are becoming much more business like and sophisticated. The image of a do-gooder in a cramped office driving a beat up car and making $30K a year is no longer a reality... The OCR obtained thousands of pages of documents from more than 100 nonprofits to detail the exploding market in human body parts and to detail their links to for-profits firms. This tipsheet offers 13 tips and approaches to investigating a tax exempt organization.
Tags: charities; 990s; IRS; Internal Revenue Service; FOIAs; investment portfolios; self dealing; assets; board members; donated body parts
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Finding the Nonprofit News
All panelists synchronized their advice in this launch pad of the nonprofits and the annual information filing, the Form 990. Key lines on the tax form are identified, as well as helpful hints (befriend an accountant), web sites, the new disclosure laws and helpful context.
Tags: IRS; CAR; 990; nonprofit; tax-exempt; accountant; charity