Balance Sheet Insolvency and Contribution Revenue in Public Charities / Tatiana Homonoff, Thomas L. Spreen, Travis St.Clair.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Homonoff, Tatiana.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Spreen, Thomas L.

St.Clair, Travis.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w26546.

NBER working paper series no. w26546

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2019.

Summary:

Using Form 990 data reported by public charities, we document significant bunching of nonprofits at near-zero net assets, the threshold for insolvency. Bunching occurs despite the fact that creditors cannot force insolvent nonprofits into involuntary bankruptcy. We show that the extent of bunching is greater among organizations that rely more heavily on contribution revenue, and that by inflating their net assets, bunching organizations are able to increase their contribution revenue relative to firms that report negative net assets. Charitable donors appear to use the net assets threshold as a heuristic for a charity's financial health; nonprofit managers, in turn, respond to the preferences of their donors.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2019.