Incorporated but Not IRS-Registered: Exploring the (Dark) Grey Fringes of the Nonprofit Universe

Abstract

We extend our deep appreciation to the nonprofits that participated in our survey. We thank also the Efroymson Fund at the Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation for supporting this work. We are grateful for the very helpful comments on earlier segments and drafts of this paper from attendees at the 2007 Annual ARNOVA conference (Atlanta, Key WordsNonprofit; IRS Registration; State Incorporation; regional analyses 3 AbstractListings of IRS-registered and state incorporated nonprofits for the same region may differ for a variety of reasons. Using Indiana as a case study, we first describe the distribution of nonprofits across these two listings. We then present findings from a small telephone survey of incorporated nonprofits that are not registered with the IRS for Indiana to explore whether they are excluded from the IRS-listing for statutory, technical, or compliance reasons. We consider several aspects of state incorporation status: date of incorporation and whether active status has been resumed or not. We conclude that researchers need to pay careful attention to the limitations of the IRS registration system when wishing to examine the dimensions of the nonprofit sector at local, state or regional levels. Our finding, that some nonprofits fail to maintain active incorporation status, points to significant problems of nonprofit capacity.

Founding New Nonprofit Organizations

“…Enterprising individuals can create a nonprofit organization fairly easily. Moreover, even with the new changes to the Form 990 and IRS regulations, the federal reporting requirements are not very onerous, and small nonprofits are not subjected to much scrutiny (Grønbjerg, Liu, & Pollak, 2010;Neely, 2011;Smoker & Mammano, 2009). With the exception of some types of organizations, such as hospitals, day care facilities, some counseling organizations, educational institutions, and organizations that receive certain types of government or other philanthropic sources of funding, most nonprofit organizations are not required to produce substantive reports about the results of their activities or demonstrate that they meet quality standards (Carman, 2009;Worth, 2009).…”

Classificatory Struggles in the Nonprofit Sector: The Formation of the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities, 1969-1987

“…12 The Filer Commission, for instance, did not include any representatives from among the recipients of funds, and as a result a separate report was requested and published by the Donee Group (1978), with conclusions markedly disparate from those of the Filer Commission. 13 By implication, this view of the nonprofit sector omits more informal and grassroots organizations (Gronbjerg et al 2010;Smith 1997). 14 See, for instance .…”

Grassroots civil society at crossroads: staying on the path to independence or turning onto the UK Government's route to localism?

“…In the UK and the US, for example, much research draws on data from listings generated through administrative data sets such as registered charities from the Charity Commission and the Internal Revenue Service (Grónjberg, Liu, and Pollak 2010;Mohan 2012aMohan , 2012b. This bias towards formal aspects of the sector is referred to as the "flat-earth approach" by Horton Smith (1997) wherein "unregistered" entities are excluded from attempts to understand civil society.…”