Category Archives: Nonprofit Accounting

Gifts-In-Kind Valuation

Posted on December 1, 2008 | 2 comments

Several questions from my trainings have been about non-cash donations and how to value them. The PPC Guide to Contributions has the best guidance out there on the subject and I still highly recommend them, a worthy investment for your nonprofits financial well being.

How do we value food donations for our “Taste Of…” event?

Fair value must be determined. According to SFAS 157, Fair Value Measurements, the fair value is, “the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid transfer of liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The quoted price for identical assets in an active market is the most reliable evidence.”

For this question, if a restaurant is providing you with 300 deserts, what do they sell the deserts for? If they are catering at your event, what do they normally charge for catering? Those quoted prices (or better yet and invoice) would be what you would use to value the donations.

Can the suggested starting bid on an item to be sold at auction be used as the fair value?

Yes, with exceptions. If a vendor gives you something to auction for your charity event and places a “suggested starting bid” sticker on it, that can be used. But if you have sold similar items before and what they suggest doesn’t match what you have used in the past that suggestion won’t work. Checking other resources on how the item might be valued would also be a good idea.

We have a golf tournament where everything is donated. Donors then buy tickets for the event. Is the whole ticket deductible to the those donors?

From what I can tell it is not. The non-deductible portion of the ticket represents the estimated fair market value of the goods or services received by the donor in return for the contribution. How much would the donor normally have had to pay to play golf at the location? The fact that the nonprofit did not incur any costs for the facility is irrelevant to the benefit received by the donor.

What are some resources for valuing donations?

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FASB 116 and 117

Posted on December 1, 2008 | 1 comment

Since we talk about them so much and they govern so much of what we do in keeping our nonprofit’s books, I thought I would link to the sources and list a quick summary of them.

Statement No. 116 Accounting for Contributions Received and Contributions Made

This Statement establishes accounting standards for contributions and applies to all entities that receive or make contributions. Generally, contributions received, including unconditional promises to give, are recognized as revenues in the period received at their fair values. Contributions made, including unconditional promises to give, are recognized as expenses in the period made at their fair values. Conditional promises to give, whether received or made, are recognized when they become unconditional, that is, when the conditions are substantially met.

This Statement requires not-for-profit organizations to distinguish between contributions received that increase permanently restricted net assets, temporarily restricted net assets, and unrestricted net assets. It also requires recognition of the expiration of donor-imposed restrictions in the period in which the restrictions expire.

Statement No. 117 Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations

This Statement requires that all not-for-profit organizations provide a statement of financial position, a statement of activities, and a statement of cash flows. It requires reporting amounts for the organization’s total assets, liabilities, and net assets in a statement of financial position; reporting the change in an organization’s net assets in a statement of activities; and reporting the change in its cash and cash equivalents in a statement of cash flows.

This Statement also requires classification of an organization’s net assets and its revenues, expenses, gains, and losses based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions. It requires that the amounts for each of three classes of net assets-permanently restricted, temporarily restricted, and unrestricted-be displayed in a statement of financial position and that the amounts of change in each of those classes of net assets be displayed in a statement of activities.

This Statement amends FASB Statement No. 95, Statement of Cash Flows, to extend its provisions to not-for-profit organizations and to expand its description of cash flows from financing activities to include certain donor-restricted cash that must be used for long-term purposes. It also requires that voluntary health and welfare organizations provide a statement of functional expenses that reports expenses by both functional and natural classifications.

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