In this issue, Newsbits takes a look at Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rules that reduce the burden on smaller not-for-profits by increasing the threshold that triggers compliance audits. It also discusses a study showing that most organizations have room for improvement with online fundraising, and notes an online tool that provides free and open access to data on nearly 82,000 independent, corporate, community and grant-making operating foundations.

A-133 Audit Threshold Raised for Small Not-For-Profits

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has streamlined its guidance on grants management, including administrative requirements, cost principles and audit requirements for federal awards. Among other things, the new rules reduce the burden on smaller not-for-profits by increasing the threshold that triggers compliance audits currently performed under OMB Circular No. A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations (also known as single audits).

The federal threshold will jump to $750,000 from $500,000, meaning that not-for-profits will be required to undergo a single audit if they spend $750,000 or more in federal awards in a fiscal year. Those that spend less are required only to make their records available for review or audit by the federal awarding agency, any pass-through agency and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

According to the OMB website, this guidance will supersede requirements from OMB Circulars A-21, A-87, A-110 and A-122 (which have been placed in 2 C.F.R. Parts 220, 225, 215 and 230); Circulars A-89, A-102 and A-133; and the guidance in Circular A-50 on Single Audit Act follow-up.  Additionally, the type A/B threshold increases from $300,000 to $750,000 (the same as the audit threshold), and the threshold for reporting known and likely questioned costs increases from $10,000 to $25,000. The new rules take effect for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2015.

Study Uncovers Not-For-Profits' Online Fundraising Failures

Most organizations have room for improvement with online fundraising, according to a study of 151 national charities, conducted by the consulting group Dunham+Company and the fundraising think tank Next After. Researchers found that most organizations do not do enough to persuade supporters to sign up for e-mails and that their messages do not provide enough direction as far as actions recipients should take, such as donating or signing a petition.

According to the survey, of those responding, 37% sent no e-mails within 30 days after visitors signed up to receive them, and 56% did not ask for a donation within 90 days. Additionally, 84% had not made their donation websites easy to read on mobile devices. And 65% of their websites required visitors to click through three or more pages to give online. With contributions hard to come by, your organization should eliminate any of these shortcomings, if possible.

Center Launches Open Data Tool

The Foundation Center, a source of information about philanthropy, has launched Foundation Stats, an online tool that provides free and open access to data on nearly 82,000 independent, corporate, community and grant-making operating foundations. Users can explore foundations' basic financial data by organization type, location and fiscal year. The grants section, based on giving by the top 1,000 U.S. foundations, allows users to filter data by recipients' geographic location and by subject area or population group served.

Users also can generate their own tables, charts and graphs to show trends over time, and all custom results can be downloaded for use in spreadsheets. The tool also includes an application programming interface so Web developers can freely extract multiple years of aggregate-level statistics for their own use.

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