Many charities rely on donated goods (also called gifts-in-kind or GIK) to carry out their program service activities. The range of donated goods vary widely and include food, clothing, medicine, building materials, computer hardware and many other possibilities. In some cases, due to the volume and cost of these items, a charity would not be able to purchase these resources if they were not contributed.

As needed as these donated goods are, some of them, particularly donated pharmaceuticals, have also been the subject of controversy in terms of the recognized value they are given in the audited financial statements of charities.

I am pleased to note that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) invited Bennett Weiner, BBB Wise Giving Alliance’s Chief Operating Officer, to post a blog on this subject on their website: Fix the GIK: The Valuation of Gifts-in-Kind in Nonprofit Financial Statements. This article also links to a longer AICPA white paper on this same subject.

We encourage our readers to review this AICPA blog page. BBB WGA is grateful for the opportunity to address this matter and hopes this advisory helps generate more discussion within the charitable sector about donated good valuation.

Video of the Week

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video of Lt. General Henry “Pete” Osman, USMC (Ret.), President and CEO, Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, (a BBB Accredited Charity) which supports the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program by raising funds to provide toys to supplement the collections of local Toys for Tots campaigns. In 2017, the organization reports that MTFTF distributed 18 million toys to 7 million less fortunate children and provided the leadership and managerial oversight for the Marine Toys for Tots Program, which included over 800 local campaigns taking place in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• AARP Foundation
• Arthritis Foundation
• ReSurge International

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry/  if you are  interested  in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one. 

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO