Nonprofits
Every dollar has a purpose and someone watching. Your books need to show exactly where the money went and why.
Accountability Is the Whole Job
Nonprofits don’t answer to shareholders. They answer to donors, grantmakers, boards, and the public. That creates a different kind of financial pressure. You aren’t managing for profit. You’re managing for trust. Every dollar that comes in carries expectations about how it will be used, and your books need to reflect that with precision.
The DMV is one of the densest nonprofit markets in the country. Foundations, advocacy organizations, trade associations, faith-based groups, and social service agencies all operate here. The funding environment is competitive, and the organizations that thrive are the ones that can demonstrate clean financial management. Sloppy books don’t just create internal headaches. They cost you grants, erode donor confidence, and put your leadership in a difficult position with the board.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
501(c)(3) charities, foundations, advocacy nonprofits, faith-based organizations, community development groups, and membership associations. Any nonprofit that receives donations or grants and is expected to account for how that money is spent.
The Core Challenge
The Core Challenge
Nonprofit accounting isn’t just tracking income and expenses. It’s tracking the purpose behind every dollar. Restricted funds, temporarily restricted funds, and unrestricted funds all need to be separated and reported correctly. Most general bookkeepers don’t set this up properly from the start.
Funds Don't All Belong in One Bucket
A foundation gives you $50,000 for a youth mentoring program. A corporate sponsor donates $10,000 for your annual gala. Individual donors contribute another $30,000 with no restrictions. That’s $90,000 in the bank, but you can’t treat it as one pool of money. Each piece has rules. The foundation grant can only pay for mentoring program expenses. The gala sponsorship has its own deliverables. Only the unrestricted donations can cover general operations like rent and salaries.
When restricted and unrestricted funds get mixed together in the books, you lose visibility into what’s actually available to spend. You might think you have $40,000 in operating cash when in reality $35,000 of it is earmarked for specific programs. We set up your chart of accounts to track funds by purpose so you always know what’s committed and what’s available.
Grant Tracking by Funder
Grant Tracking by Funder
Each grant gets its own tracking. Expenses are tagged to the specific grant that funds them. When the funder asks for a financial report on how their dollars were used, you have the answer ready instead of spending days reconstructing it.
Program vs. Overhead Ratios
Program vs. Overhead Ratios
Donors and watchdog organizations look at how much of your budget goes to programs versus administration. We track these categories consistently so your ratios are accurate and defensible. No scrambling to reclassify expenses before an annual report goes out.
The 990 Is a Public Document
Your Form 990 isn’t just a tax filing. It’s available for anyone to read. Donors check it on GuideStar. Grantmakers review it before writing a check. Board members are personally named on it. Journalists pull it when writing about the nonprofit sector. Errors, inconsistencies, or missing information on a 990 don’t just trigger IRS questions. They raise red flags with the people who fund your mission.
We prepare Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-T for unrelated business income. This isn’t something we hand off to a third party. It’s a core part of what ATS does for nonprofit clients. We handle the functional expense allocations, the compensation disclosures, the program service accomplishments narrative, and the governance questions. If your organization has unrelated business income from rentals, advertising, or other activities outside your exempt purpose, we prepare the 990-T to make sure that income is reported and taxed correctly.
990 Preparation
990 Preparation
We prepare the full return with all required schedules. Compensation is reported accurately. Revenue and expenses tie to your audited or reviewed financials. The narrative sections describe your programs clearly. The filing is complete and on time.
Unrelated Business Income
Unrelated Business Income
Rental income, sponsorship revenue that crosses into advertising, merchandise sales. These can trigger unrelated business income tax obligations that many nonprofits don’t realize they have. We identify it, track it, and file the 990-T so there are no surprises.
Your Board Gets What It Needs
Board members have a fiduciary duty to oversee the organization’s finances. But most board members are volunteers with full-time jobs elsewhere. They show up to meetings and need to understand the financial picture in fifteen minutes. That means the reports you hand them need to be clear, accurate, and organized in a way that highlights what matters. We prepare board-ready financial statements that present revenue by source, expenses by program, and cash position with restricted fund balances clearly separated.
Beyond the board meeting, clean books make everything else easier. Grant applications go faster because the financial data is already organized. Audit preparation is straightforward because the documentation exists. Annual reports to donors look professional because the numbers are reliable. Your executive director and program staff spend their time on the mission instead of digging through bank statements trying to figure out which expense belongs to which grant.
Audit and Grant Readiness
Audit and Grant Readiness
When a funder requires a financial audit or a detailed grant report, the documentation is already in place. We maintain your books with the expectation that someone will ask to see them. The records are organized, the fund balances are current, and the backup is accessible.
Budgeting and Cash Flow
Budgeting and Cash Flow
Nonprofit revenue is often seasonal or lumpy. A major grant hits in Q1, a fundraiser in Q4, and the summer months are lean. We help you build budgets and cash flow projections that account for this reality so you can plan payroll and program expenses without running short.
Northern Virginia's Bookkeeping & Advisory Firm
First Step:
Tell Us About Your Business
Every engagement starts with a conversation. Tell us what's going on with your books and we'll give you our honest assessment.
