Projects
In addition to our core research activities, NCCS is involved in a wide array of activities involving data collection and the development of the information and data to meet the needs of the nonprofit sector.
In collaboration with the National Association of Attorney's General/National Association of State Charity Officials (NAAG/NASCO) and GuideStar, NCCS has developed an online system, the 990 Online, for charities to complete all their federal Form 990 and state registration filing requirements and file these forms electronically.
E-Filing of IRS Form 990s and state charity forms benefits nonprofit organizations, regulators, researchers, and donors alike. NCCS has been working since 1999 to make it a reality. We now offer an easy-to-use web-based system, 990 Online, for completing your IRS Form 990, 990-EZ or 8868 (application for extension). The system is completely free for organizations with less than $100,000 in gross receipts and there is a sliding scale for larger organizations. Click here to try the system.
Fundraising Effectiveness Project
Begun in 2006, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) is cosponsored by NCCS; the Association of Fundraising Professionals; the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis; the National Committee on Planned Giving in Indianapolis and other nonprofit sector organizations. The project works with more than a dozen fundraising software firms around the country to establish standards for reporting on fundraising costs and revenues, to collect uniform data designed to help nonprofits increase giving at a faster pace, and to help the nonprofit community learn more about improving donor recruitment and retention.
Participating nonprofit organizations that submit their data electronically through NCCS's electronic portal can compare their growth-in-giving performance with the performance of like organizations as determined by total amount raised, average gift size, type of organization, age of development program, geographic location, fundraising budget and number of personnel, as well as combinations of these criteria. In subsequent years, the project plans to collect more detailed information, including costs (by fundraising method), gift type and other variables.
Participating fundraising software firms have developed automated upload features in their products so that users can, with the click of a button or checkbox, either send the data directly to us, or have the firm send the data annually.
More information about the project is available on the NCCS wiki.
Nonprofit Fundraising and Administrative Costs
From 1999 to 2004, researchers at the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS)/ Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University explored issues of nonprofit fundraising and administrative cost reporting. The goal of the project is to increase understanding of cost reporting, and to work with practitioners, policymakers, and the accounting profession to improve measurement and reporting. The project has come to be known as the "Nonprofit Overhead Cost Study."
NCCS has worked closely with the IRS, State Charity officials, and GuideStar over more than two decades to improve the quality and quantity of information available about nonprofit organizations. Current projects include the annual IRS Form 990 meeting, the NASCOnet SuperSchema, and various state database and e-filing systems. To learn more about NCCS e-filing, please view our E-Filing Project home page or go to http://efile.form990.org to see our IRS-certified Form 990 e-filing system.
UCOA, the Unified Chart of Accounts for nonprofit organizations, is a chart of accounts freely available on this site to any nonprofit organization, accountant, or consultant. The system is designed so that nonprofits can can quickly and reliably translate their financial statements into the categories required by the IRS Form 990, the federal Office of Management and Budget, and into other standard reporting formats. UCOA also seeks to promote uniform accounting practices throughout the nonprofit sector.
A joint project of the Urban Institute and The Center for What Works The Outcome Indicators Project provides a framework for tracking nonprofit performance. It suggests candidate outcomes and outcome indicators to assist nonprofit organizations that seek to develop new outcome monitoring processes or improve their existing systems.
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