Welcome to your daily briefing on nonprofit developments in Georgia. Today we're covering 8 key stories including updates on georgia nonprofit headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
5 stories
The Georgia Center for Nonprofits maintains a curated list of funding and resource opportunities that is refreshed monthly.
Georgia nonprofit professionals can rely on this regularly updated hub to discover timely financial support and capacity-building resources for their organizations.
TGCI maintains a directory identifying the top charitable foundations providing grant funding in Georgia.
Georgia nonprofit professionals can use this resource to identify and pursue potential foundation funding opportunities aligned with their missions.
Tax990 has published a step-by-step guide explaining how to legally start and register a nonprofit in Georgia and meet state agency requirements and annual filing obligations.
Georgia nonprofit professionals need clear, accurate guidance on state-specific formation and compliance requirements to maintain good standing and avoid penalties.
Georgia's Own Foundation, Inc. provides grant funding to nonprofit organizations that align with its community involvement objectives.
Georgia nonprofit professionals have another potential funding source to support programs that advance community goals in their local areas.
The Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division cautions that some charitable contributions fail to reach intended beneficiaries due to professional fundraising fees, high administrative overhead, and outright fraudulent organizations.
Nonprofit professionals in GA must understand these public concerns to build donor trust, demonstrate impact, and distinguish their legitimate operations from problematic actors in the sector.
Reach professionals in this market
3 stories
Unrelated business income tax applies when an activity is regularly carried on, is a trade or business, and is not substantially related to the exempt purpose. Common surprises: corporate-sponsored events with naming rights that look like advertising, affinity credit-card royalties that include co-marketing services, and gift-shop sales of items unrelated to the mission.
UBIT exposure can cost both tax and exempt status if the unrelated business becomes substantial. The line between sponsorship (excluded) and advertising (included) is narrow and case-specific.
Form 990 is required to be made public by the filing organization on request and is indexed by ProPublica and others within weeks of filing. Sections most boards underestimate: Schedule J (top-staff compensation), Schedule L (transactions with interested persons), and Schedule O (narrative explanations that "soften" other answers). Donors and reporters read these.
Items that read fine in management's narrative often read very differently in print. Pre-filing review by a non-finance board member catches optics issues that a CFO will not.
Donor-restricted gifts must be tracked separately and used only for the restricted purpose; using them for general operations — even with intent to "pay back" later — is a fiduciary breach and an audit finding. The most-common fact pattern: cash-flow shortage in operations, restricted-grant balance available, transfer "borrowed" with no formal repayment plan.
State attorneys general have authority over restricted-gift compliance and have pursued individual board members and executives. Auditors are required to disclose restricted-fund violations in the management letter.
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