The question is disclosure of donor names on Schedule B of Form 990. The Treasury Regulation instructs that the names and addresses of contributors shall not be made available for public inspection. Treas. Reg. § 301.6104(b)-1(b)(1) “The names and addresses of contributors to an organization other than a private foundation shall not be made available for public inspection under section 6104(b).”
The Attorney General/Registry of Charitable Trusts requires the annual filing of the Registration and Renewal Report, commonly known as the RRF-1. The Instructions to Form RRF-1 require the filing of the Form 990 “and attachments.”
When this topic was discussed at the Nonprofit and Unincorporated Organizations Committee at the 2010 Annual Meeting, the widely held understanding was that Schedule B must be attached, but the names and addressed should be omitted, so that the donation amount shows.
Some professionals have been deleting the names and addresses from the Schedule B attached to the RRF-1 for the public charities. Some charities have received notices from the AG’s office that the Schedule B must be attached to the 990s that accompany the RTF-1s. The following question was posed to Belinda J. Johns, Senior Assistant Attorney General: Does your office make the 990s public, and if so, does your office sanitize the Schedule B before it is made public, or do you want the charity to sanitize the Schedule B before you receive it?”
Belinda Johns replied as follows: “Schedule B is a public document for private foundations but not for public charities. We tag Schedule Bs for public charities as confidential documents so they do not get scanned into our automated database. But they do have to be filed with us.” In fact the AG’s office is sending out notices if the Schedule B is sanitized before it is filed with the AG.
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