Form 990 for NRS

[Guide]

Very few know about the Internal Revenue Service Form 990. If you ever have someone ask you to donate to some cause you probably have your pat answer ready. My pat answer is, ‘I never give donations to anyone without reviewing Form 990.’  The solicitor pauses and doesn’t say anything. I then ask, ‘Do you know what Form 990 is?’ They invariably say no. I then, say ‘educate yourself what IRS Form 990 is.’  I then can hang up.  If the solicitor does know what this form is, I say send a copy to me and, of course, they rarely do. They usually hang up or try someone else. 

 

So if you don’t know, Form 990 is the form the Internal Revenue Service requires non profit organizations to file and is available to the public to review. This is helpful information that explains how the non profit spends its money. In 2014, a new wrinkle has appeared. Before this non profits were never required to divulge who donates to the non profit organization. Now they do if they receive more than $50,000 in donations. 

 

The chief reason I know about Form 990 is I am the director of the RRDi, a 501 (c) 3 non profit organization. I first learned about Form 990 when I read my first one, the 1998 Form 990 for the National Rosacea Society (NRS) which was an eye opener for me. I never realized that non profit organizations can make a lot of money without actually doing anything good or very little goes to the ‘good’ they are promising. I wrote about this here. 

 

Every year I post to the public a yearly review of the NRS Form 990 and this year is no exception. Here are the results of reviewing it: 

 

NRS Form 990 for 2014
The Facts

 

Total Receipts
$695,013

 

Schedule B Schedule of Contributors 

Part 1

1. Galderma $383,000

2. Miscellaneous Contributions under 5,000 - $88,546

3. Biersdorf, Inc - $38,215

4. L’oreal - $5,000

5. Bayer - $126,500

Total $641,261

 

Part X Balance Sheet 

total assets $312,247

 

 

Expenses
 

Line 18. $615,823

 

Form 990 Part VII Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, etc. 

Samuel B. Huff $105,420

Mary F. Erhard   $39,962

Total                 $145,382 (21%)

 

Section B Independent Contractors

Glendale $326,505

Park          $65,463

Total        $391,968 (56%)

 

Part 9 Statement of Functional Expenses

1. Grants $42,544 (6%)

 

Part X Balance Sheet 

Total liabilities $40,593

 

Schedule A Public Charity Status and Public Support 

Section C Computation of Public Support Percentage

14. Public Support percentage for 2014 total 29.1%

17a 10%-facts-and-circumstances test 2014 Box is Checked

Part VI explains why the NRS claims yes to line 17a

 

Comments

If you review above, the NRS took in $695K in donations. Total expenses amounted to $615K. 

 

The NRS spent on rosacea research $42,544 which is 6% of the total donations received in 2014. What this means is that for every dollar donated to the NRS 6 cents is spent on rosacea research. The rest is spent on other stuff. What stuff, you may ask?  First off the president and the secretary received $145K which is 21% of the donations. There were two independent contractors that received $391K which is 56% of the donations. Both of these two independent contractors are owned by the president of the NRS.  That makes up 83% of the expenses. If you take about fifteen minutes you can see for yourself where the last 17% was spent. The NRS paints a rosy picture of how it spends donated funds here. But Form 990 paints a different picture, which is more accurate. Why not read for yourself what I just reported?

 

Download the NRS Form 990 for 2014

 

For more details of all the NRS Form 990s

 

If you want to do something about this, why not Join the RRDi? You can make a comment about your thoughts on the NRS by posting one in this thread.