Knowledgebase

How can I use 990 data to identify a contact person to whom to mail a survey? (Method Note)

The Form 990 signature line requires that an officer print his or her name and title. However, this item is not captured in the GuideStar data entry process.

In recent surveys, we have done precalls to identify the specific person to mail to. This not only ensures that we have the correct person but also ought to improve response rates by giving them notice that a survey is on its way.

We are double-checking our data to verify this, but I believe that the officer signing the return is no longer captured in our data. The contact info in the Business Master Files is quite limited. It might be useful for some organizations but in most, it appears, one has only "c/o payroll dept." or something to that effect. In more than 60% of the organizations reporting income, it is simply blank.

An alternative approach that would take additional work to implement is to pull any paid staff from the Part V section (list of officers, directors, and key employees) and use that person (usually it's just one) instead.