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First of all, congratulations, and thanks as always for making this data as
public and transparent as possible.

I had a few questions regarding the Question-and-Answer page, regarding Form
990. The current plan is to publish Form 990 by mid-February, it seems --
did the Foundation received an extension again this year? With an
extension, the deadline would be February 16, rather than November 17 -- I'm
assuming that's what happened.

Also, while extensions are granted fairly liberally, is it normal practice
to receive extensions on an annual basis?

Thanks.

--
[[User:Ral315]]
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Thank you very much. It looks like the foundation's finances are in
excellent order. A few things that jump out at me - despite the size
of the foundation in pretty much every respect increasing dramatically
over the last year, the money spent on travel (which is something I
remember some people thought was too high last year) has only
increased 16% (and that's including inflation, so in real terms it's
even less). Also, despite the hiring of new executives, hiring
fundraisers, moving to new offices, an increase in support required
for the increased staff and who knows what else, the percentage of
spending on projects is still 63%, down from 77% last year, a pretty
small drop considering (and obviously that's not including the
$billions worth of work done by volunteers on the projects). All in
all, it appears the foundation is doing an excellent job and making
very good use of the contributions it receives. Thank you, and well
done!

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Ral315 wrote:
> I had a few questions regarding the Question-and-Answer page, regarding Form
> 990. The current plan is to publish Form 990 by mid-February, it seems --
> did the Foundation received an extension again this year? With an
> extension, the deadline would be February 16, rather than November 17 -- I'm
> assuming that's what happened.
>
> Also, while extensions are granted fairly liberally, is it normal practice
> to receive extensions on an annual basis?
>
Yes, extensions are routine all around. I think at one point it was
mentioned that some organizations or their auditors deliberately push
back filing Form 990 until the last possible moment, although I doubt we
want to make that our philosophy. But really it's much like any other
tax filing, including personal income taxes. The IRS is less concerned
about promptness in filing, as long as you obtain the proper extension,
than about the filing being correct. (What you don't get an extension
for, of course, is actual payment of any tax you owe.)

Anyway, our first priority was completing the audit itself rather than
completing Form 990, so we're using a routine extension. I believe the
last one was not filed until this past May, as the previous audit was
also considerably delayed, so we're making progress on the timetable. I
don't anticipate any serious difficulties or big surprises with the next
Form 990, but it will still need time to prepare and review.

--Michael Snow


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On Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 12:33 AM, Ral315 <wiki.ral315@gmail.com> wrote:

> Also, while extensions are granted fairly liberally, is it normal practice
> to receive extensions on an annual basis?
>

A three-month extension is requested approximately 37% of the time. An
additional three-month extension is requested by approximately 8% of those
filing for an extension.
http://www.jhu.edu/listeningpost/news/pdf/comm04preliminary.pdf
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Thomas Dalton wrote:
> Thank you very much. It looks like the foundation's finances are in
> excellent order.
I agree that they're in better shape than they have been in the past.
Veronique and her team deserve a great deal of credit for putting a good
system in place.
> A few things that jump out at me - despite the size
> of the foundation in pretty much every respect increasing dramatically
> over the last year, the money spent on travel (which is something I
> remember some people thought was too high last year) has only
> increased 16% (and that's including inflation, so in real terms it's
> even less).
The concerns about travel expenses are something we've taken to heart
and will continue to be watchful about. Given the nature of this as an
international undertaking, that doesn't necessarily mean we will cut
travel expenses drastically, but they need to have a purpose. For
example, the chapters will be having a meeting in Berlin next April. The
location helps minimize the cost because many of the chapters are nearby
in Europe, but we'll need to provide financial support to ensure that
the more distant chapters can also be represented at the meeting. So our
travel costs will probably always be a bit higher than at an average
American nonprofit.
> Also, despite the hiring of new executives, hiring
> fundraisers, moving to new offices, an increase in support required
> for the increased staff and who knows what else, the percentage of
> spending on projects is still 63%, down from 77% last year, a pretty
> small drop considering (and obviously that's not including the
> $billions worth of work done by volunteers on the projects).
The functional allocation of expenses was still a matter of some concern
as discussed in our October board meeting. You're right in identifying
some of the issues that make the percentage of project spending lower
than would be ideal. Essentially, it has seemed prudent to build up the
organizational side for a while, to correct past problems and put a
structure in place that's capable of effectively securing and
administering funds for project-specific spending. We're beginning to
see progress in that regard, though it will take time to build up to
"full" capacity, however we might interpret that. (An interesting
question, actually - what would full capacity really mean for our projects?)
> All in
> all, it appears the foundation is doing an excellent job and making
> very good use of the contributions it receives. Thank you, and well
> done!
>
Thank you for the kind words, we hope to continue this in the future.

--Michael Snow


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