Brian MittendorfDec 22, 2022
Ken Schwencke

One of the things my team @ProPublica does is run our Nonprofit Explorer database. It’s super popular and useful, but it relies on IRS data to run.

So we’re in a unique position to both see that the IRS is failing at its duty to make this data available and also to be able to report on it as news: https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-hasnt-released-nearly-half-million-nonprofit-tax-records

The IRS Hasn’t Released Nearly Half a Million Nonprofit Tax Records

If you’re trying to evaluate a charity this year, you might have a hard time. The IRS is behind on releasing Form 990s, limiting access to key financial information the public uses to evaluate the nation’s tax-exempt companies.

ProPublica
Dec 22, 2022 at 12:36pmWeb
Show threadKen SchwenckeDec 22, 2022
if you want to follow @ProPublica’s current (and best tbh) chief of all things nonprofits, you can find @asuozzo on the fediverse 🥳
Show threadAndrea SuozzoDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica aww shucks 😊
Show threadForest GreggDec 22, 2022

@ken @ProPublica @asuozzo

i have in my long backlog of "someday" projects to use the 990 data to measure levels of board interlock as indicator of community social capital.

lmk if you all ever would be interested in looking at interlock!

Show threadKen SchwenckeDec 22, 2022
@fgregg @ProPublica @asuozzo we have thought a little about this actually! Not sure it’s on the near-term slate but it’s an interesting idea.
Show threadtolortsluborDec 22, 2022
@fgregg @ken @ProPublica @asuozzo Yes, please.
“Section 8 prevents any individual director or officer from simultaneously serving at two competing corporations that meet certain criteria, also known as interlocking directorates and officers.” https://woodruffsawyer.com/do-notebook/doj-interlocking-directorates/
#InterlockingDirectorates just one of the many ways a mostly born rich upper class corrupts our human society and #economy
Interlocking Directorates: The DOJ’s Latest Target | Woodruff Sawyer

The Department of Justice recently announced several board resignations undertaken to comply with antitrust laws.

Woodruff Sawyer
Show threadericfrazDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica as a foundation comms guy I find it very helpful. Thanks!
Show threadLarry SadlerDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica I was just reading article from AP news about the failings of the IRS to do the mandatory audit of presidents and how the underfunding made it more complicated for the agency to audit complex tax returns
Show threadKen SchwenckeDec 22, 2022
@grey_ghost @ProPublica yes, the IRS has been systematically cut by Republican members of congress over the last decade or so, and if you ask folks at the agency they’ll say that is the source of most of their problems.
Show threadKen SchwenckeDec 22, 2022
@grey_ghost @ProPublica oh I almost forgot, we wrote a whole series on that: https://www.propublica.org/series/gutting-the-irs
Gutting the IRS

A multiyear campaign to slash the IRS budget has left it understaffed and on the defensive. That’s been good news for tax cheats, the rich, and big corporations — but not for the poor.

ProPublica
Show threadMark DavisDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica Thanks for bringing up this issue as my company has also been frustrated. We automatically sourced data from the AWS open 990 filings for use in our donor advised fund platform. Once the IRS took ownership we suddenly lost access to 2 years of filings 😔
Show threadKen SchwenckeDec 22, 2022
@davisml @ProPublica thankfully we’d been making copies all along 🙃
Show threadMark DavisDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica We had copies of derived data but not the XML source files themselves. Definitely learned a valuable lesson and now we keep a full copy of the source data in a private S3 bucket.
Show threadTim ChpDec 22, 2022

@ken @ProPublica

As a regular user of this excellent ProPublica database, I can definitely confirm the IRS is failing to keep this crucial info on charities and nonprofits updated and current. Lots of missing info and gaps nowadays. Not good.

Show threadKenny MayneDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica
the IRS is behind on lots of things. My partner still has yet to receive her refund from 2021
Show threadRty2kDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica and did Wilbur Ross have anything to do with obstructing the IRS from doing it’s job?
Show threadnedhamsonDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica There is a big perceptual difference between “has not released” and “is behind in releasing”. To many the lead “has not released” phrase may indicate government incomptence or corrupt secrecy while the late release may just be the result of low funding and too few employees… both which result from past decisions of both the Congress and Adminitrations with the intent to hide information. Is the headline designed to inform or inflame?
Show threadGirl InterruptedDec 22, 2022
@ken @ProPublica it is completely on purpose
Show threadVoronDec 25, 2022
@ken @ProPublica thank you 🙏