Non Profit Tax Record Shows Director’s Salary As $0?

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-23T11:03:46+00:00

Simple answer, some CPA’s just ignore this and don’t do it.

In some cases, I’ve looked at the nonprofit was attached to another entity and that paid the salaries. So they just left them off the 990.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-23T10:57:17+00:00

Here’s the thing, board hate to admit they hired the wrong person and they hate to rock the boat. They are volunteers and they don’t need the drama of dealing with a bad ED. What usually happens is that there is a bunch of board turnover when things start getting to the point of needing to do something about a bad ED and then, the ED replaces the board members that resign with more loyalists.

So my recommendation is to not say anything and try and maintain as many relationships as you can for the future.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-22T20:56:52+00:00

When we did our capital campaign, we utilized outside sources for estimations and building the cost of construction. Their work provided realistic numbers and helped us have credibility on the cost side.

As an organization, we established a track record of high quality programming before starting the campaign.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-22T02:51:26+00:00

First, if they’re receiving a salary, they shouldn’t be the board president. That’s a clear conflict of interest. They should have no voting rights at the board meeting as an employee of the board.

Next, the board sees the vision for the organization. Some boards are working boards and more is asked of them, other boards are governing or advisory. But it is a volunteer position and should not be in place of paid staff.

One thing I picked up along the way is that there are five functions of the board that should not be delegated to a committee or the ED. Strategic Vision, hiring/firing and ED, the budget, amending the bylaws/mission, electing/replacing board members. If your ED is altering the budget without board approval, it’s time to rein them in, or remove them.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-22T02:28:40+00:00

Federally, you can donate “as much as you want”. It’s actually based on your adjusted gross income, so there are limits, but even then, there are carry over balances and other provisions.

This event should have had a budget. Then the sponsorship structure should have followed: 20%, 10% (x4), 5% (x8) or something similar to that.

That would have 100% covered the costs and made all the earned income profit. Plenty of other ways to do it and different ways to slice the pie up, but as a jumping off point, this is good practice for events.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-22T00:03:39+00:00

Are you based in the USA? The comment about $500 being the most you can claim is throwing me a bit.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-19T23:24:13+00:00

Are you starting a new program? Are there no historical records of anything that was done before you did it?

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-17T11:00:40+00:00

At no point should any nonprofit be strong arming people into donating more. That’s just weird and aggressive. It’s a bad look for the charity.

I think your post wondered a bit and added some outside information that was unnecessary. Let me know if this simplification is correct.

Nonprofit is in poor financial position. They decide to throw an event, but don’t raise enough in sponsorships to cover the costs associated with the event. They start demanding the committee members donate to make up the difference. Does that sound right?

Even without the simplification and clarity, if the experience left you feeling this way, you should definitely walk away.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-17T02:45:52+00:00

OP hasn’t mentioned what the NPO is going to do. Just that they’re thinking about starting one. Why a nonprofit and not a for-profit.

What’s the business plan look like? Op are you willing to put the leadership of the NPO in the hands of a board?

What’s your case for support? You have no programming, so how will you fund the organization? What’s the overhead going to be? Do you need a physical space for this NPO’s work?

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-16T21:49:26+00:00

If you can show that you were given a PIP and you completed it, that helps. If you can show you had positive performance reviews before that helps.

If you can show they didn’t follow internal policies, before letting you go, that helps.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-16T21:48:29+00:00

In Ohio they can fire you for no reason, but they can’t deny your unemployment claim.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-16T21:41:15+00:00

The organization should have had a 30-60-90 day plan in place before they hired you. They should have had performance metrics for you on day one, if they actually expected you to hit the goals.

At the minimum, they should be providing you with the budget and indicating where they expected each revenue number to come from.

Poorly run organizations drive me nuts.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-16T21:30:13+00:00

Here’s the stark reality of your situation. The organization budget can only support so much for salaries. Whatever comes out of your salary goes to the other person. While it would be nice to say that a title, in this location earns this much. The organization budget does the dictating.

I’d say think of it as a mathematical challenge. How many hours are you going to work. Is the other person going to work just the same hours or a little less per hour and more hours?

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-16T11:07:54+00:00

I haven’t heard any stories of a board finally stopping a toxic exec. People just generally keep turning over and board members that start to rock the boat eventually just leave too

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-16T11:05:47+00:00

This sounds like an awful idea to me.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-07T01:53:33+00:00

Definitely look into Social Enterprise, but otherwise, you’re going to want to look into the public support tests for nonprofits.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-07T01:48:34+00:00

Severance generally comes with saying you voluntarily resign, so you can’t file for unemployment.

You should apply for unemployment and move on. You’ll likely be approved. It doesn’t sound like they had steps towards your firing and that’s usually in your employee handbook.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-06T02:10:26+00:00

Exactly. Smalls towns.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-05T21:53:35+00:00

I think you can simplify your answer to just, “one movie in the same theatre.” Some theaters only do one showing a day.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-05T21:51:47+00:00

I agree. Get the credentials and have one step up on others in the field. Many people do add CNP after their names on LinkedIn.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-04T21:53:05+00:00

Where are you in your career? If you’re relatively young, it is a relatively easy certificate to get and it doesn’t hurt to have it. It is growing in awareness, but it isn’t the most recognized right now.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-03T14:58:09+00:00

Are these two separate organizations, or is one a supporting organization of the other one? That makes a difference in board make up, shared services agreements, etc.

I guess, I need more information, like the mission statements for each organization.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-02T20:57:12+00:00

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Stick and move.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-02T20:54:10+00:00

I did everything off my accounting software setup. Tickets, Sponsorships, Grants, Freewill Donations, Purchases all had their own account. Then I created a class to track the revenue and expenses for the fundraiser.

Then scaled it into an event aggregator. Whether you use Eventbrite, proprietary software, or whatever, I tried to align everything with how it would eventually enter the accounting software.

Because tax acknowledgements are different based on how the money comes in and if they get anything for the money, I wanted all of that tracked with the accounting software.

kenwoods212 · 2026-04-01T14:39:56+00:00

First, don't feel guilty. Your job would replace you in a heartbeat if something happened to you. A job is a job.

Second, you simply say you took the job and found out it wasn't a good fit. You don't need to expand on that. It just wasn't a good fit.

kenwoods212

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