humanop.

CSUF – Acct 302 Special Project, Non-Profits

When you begin to understand non-profits, donations are extremely important to enable the nonprofit to continue and expand its mission. Just as it happens in business, nonprofits look to expand their donor base and their program reach. Oftentimes, nonprofits that are funded by individual donations feel that if they reach out for the “large donations” like through grants or corporate sponsors, their life will be easier. The business issues with adding a new avenue of donations is the same as it is in a for profit entity: What are the costs involved in making this happen versus the eventual return. Furthermore, corporate donors and/or grants can come and go with changes in the economy or environment – which adds a large risk dimension to this source of funds.

Additionally, charities need to allocate expenses to either Program Service Expenses, Administrative expenses and Fund-Raising expenses. Charity Navigator and many contributors look to see how much and what % of total expenses are spent on Program Service Expenses versus Administrative or Fund-Raising Expenses. The higher the % of expenses spent on program expenses, generally the better the charity is viewed.

You can find summary information on Human Options Inc. (extracted from the Form 990) by searching for Human Options Inc. (a California not for profit) on the website CharityNavigator.org. Scroll down the page to view summary information about the charity and other charities performing similar work. The actual 990 can be found by visiting Human Options’ website. (humanoptions.org)

When you review the information about Human Options, answer the following questions:

1. What is Human Options’ mission?

2. Did total contributions increase or decrease for 2019? What was the main source of contributions for Human Options for 2019?

3. What comments do you have about the amount of money paid to the executive officer relative to the size of the charity and relative to other similar charities?

4. For the most recent year, what percent of total expenses were allocated to each of the categories: Program Services, Administrative Services, and Fundraising? Did total Program expenses increase or decrease from the prior year and does that seem reasonable to you?

5. Based on Human Options’ mission, if you were auditing Human Options what kind of expenses would you expect to see classified as program expenses (ie, expenses that directly relate to the mission).

Please submit your answers to me via Titanium. Please be sure to answer each of these questions in order. Points will be deducted for Grammar and spelling errors.

(From the Syllabus: I will deduct 10% of the points (***UP TO THE ENTIRE POINTS FOR THE ASSIGNMENT***) for each spelling, grammar or math errors)