Keeping Current with Compliance

October 18, 2019

Kathleen Sayce

Think you are fine with your organization’s registrations? Luckily for all of us, there’s some leeway of months to years to get caught up if you let important registrations drop. But why not review it all again, just to be sure, in the local class next week?

The next local class, Let’s Go Legal, is Friday, October 25th, 1-4 p.m. at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum. You can sign up on line, or walk in. The fee is $15 for members of WNP, or $20 for not-yet-members. 

This is a return to the topic of our very first class, three years ago:  Compliance.

Make sure that your organization is properly registered in the state as a nonprofit, as a charity if it takes donations and issues tax receipts, and with the IRS. 

WNP works with Washington Secretary of State on the course material to ensure it is current and accurate, WA SOS also underwrites part of the cost. The speaker can come here because it is also supported by grants from Medina Foundation. Pacific Community Foundation is very grateful that WA SOS and Medina make it possible for them to be taught in person in our community. 

This column could be subtitled “Practice is Never a Waste of Time”. 

When I worked for ShoreBank Pacific, annual recertification in dozens of topics, from safety and security to how to watch for signs of money laundering, was required. The first year was interesting; the next couple of years were annoying, and after that, I understood that if I did not revisit these topics regularly, I would slowly drift away from good practices. Now at a community foundation, I realize that regular reviews are just as important here as they were at the bank. 

At the bank, we had online courses to take, with tests, and certificates, proof that we had done the time. In the nonprofit sector, we are on our own for tests and certificates, but there’s a great resource available for any nonprofit officer or board member, at Washington Nonprofits. For a nominal annual fee, you can watch classes online or attend classes in person where it fits with your schedule. 

WNP link to courses: https://washingtonnonprofits.org/learning/

The foundation is also helping the Chinook Observer review the list of nonprofit organizations that go in its Giving Back insert, which we hope will come out in late November or early December this year. 

When I reviewed the organizations in last year's insert, checking to see who is still active, I was startled to find some had closed down a decade ago. So I requested the current nonprofits list for Pacific County from the Secretary of State—and I was startled all over again by the organizations that are now gone, and the new ones that have appeared. 

Another discrepancy is those organizations that operate on donations, but are not registered as charities. 

Do your organization a favor. Take this class, then plan to re-take courses regularly, just to make sure you aren’t overlooking something that might be critically important.