Volunteers at a community food pantry organizing canned goods on folding tables with a clipboard on a corkboard
IRS-Recognized Nonprofit Compliance

You Built Something That Matters.
We Make Sure the IRS Agrees.

Annual 990 filings. Board governance policies. State charitable registrations. Audit readiness. One missed deadline can cost your organization its tax-exempt status — and years of work.

Form 990 & 990-EZ annual filings
Board governance & conflict-of-interest policies
State charitable registration renewals
IRS audit preparation & representation

No sales pressure. Takes 2 minutes. Results are instant.

01
Phase 01 — Getting the 1023 right the first time
01

Formation & IRS Recognition

⚠ What goes wrong when this is skipped

Founding boards rush through the 1023 application, check the wrong boxes on program descriptions, or forget state-level incorporation steps entirely. The IRS rejects or delays — sometimes for 18 months. Donors disappear. Grants fall through. We've seen organizations raise $40,000 before realizing they never actually had 501(c)(3) status.

What we deliver

Articles of incorporation review & filing guidance
IRS Form 1023 / 1023-EZ preparation
Employer Identification Number (EIN) setup
Initial conflict-of-interest policy drafting
State nonprofit registration
18 moAverage IRS delay when 1023 is filed incorrectly
Person filling out official government paperwork at a desk with a lamp
02
Phase 02 — The one form that decides your public credibility
02

Annual Form 990 Filing

⚠ What happens when the 990 is late or wrong

Miss three consecutive years and the IRS automatically revokes your exempt status — no hearing, no warning. File with inaccurate program expenses and Charity Navigator flags you. Volunteer treasurers working from personal spreadsheets routinely misclassify restricted and unrestricted funds, which surfaces during grant audits at the worst possible moment.

What we deliver

Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N preparation
Revenue & expense classification review
Program service accomplishment narratives
Schedule B donor disclosure guidance
Automatic extension (Form 8868) if needed
3 yrsConsecutive late filings before automatic status revocation
Accountant reviewing financial documents and a laptop at a well-lit desk
03
Phase 03 — The policies that protect you before problems start
03

Board Governance

⚠ The governance gaps that end organizations

A board member's construction company wins the contract to renovate the food bank's warehouse — nobody documented a conflict-of-interest review. A founding pastor makes salary decisions without a compensation policy. These aren't edge cases. They're the fact patterns behind the IRS private-benefit violations that strip exemptions every year. Governance is invisible when it works and catastrophic when it doesn't.

What we deliver

Conflict-of-interest policy & annual disclosure forms
Executive compensation documentation
Board meeting minutes templates
Whistleblower & document retention policies
Annual board self-assessment process
68%Of IRS nonprofit audits cite a governance policy gap
Small nonprofit board meeting around a table with documents and discussion
04
Phase 04 — The requirement most organizations forget entirely
04

State Charitable Renewals

⚠ Why state registration is the hidden landmine

41 states require nonprofits that solicit donations to register annually — including organizations that simply send email appeals or post a "Donate" button. Penalties range from $250 fines to cease-and-desist orders. A youth mentoring program in Nashville discovered it had been operating without Tennessee registration for four years when a major foundation ran a compliance screen before awarding a $75,000 grant.

What we deliver

Multi-state registration requirement analysis
Annual renewal filings in all required states
Unified Registration Statement (URS) preparation
Deadline calendar & automated reminders
Retroactive registration remediation
41States with mandatory charitable solicitation registration
Map of the United States with pins marking different states on an office wall
05
Phase 05 — Ready before the letter arrives — not after
05

Audit Preparation

⚠ What makes an IRS audit catastrophic vs. manageable

The difference between a two-week correspondence audit and a two-year examination is almost entirely preparation. Organizations with documented financial controls, board minutes that reflect actual deliberation, and a clean paper trail for restricted fund expenditures close audits quickly. Those without spend months reconstructing history — often at attorney rates — and sometimes don't survive the process.

What we deliver

Financial control documentation review
Restricted fund tracking & documentation
Prior-year 990 consistency analysis
IRS correspondence audit response support
Pre-audit organizational health assessment
2 wksAverage audit resolution time for well-prepared organizations
Professional reviewing organized binders and audit documents in an office
2-Minute Assessment

Check Your Compliance Health

Five questions. Instant risk score. The exact next step your organization needs — no guessing, no jargon.

Takes 2 minutes · No account required · Results are instant

Client Stories

Organizations We've Kept Standing

Real outcomes from executive directors, volunteer treasurers, and founding pastors who found the gaps before the IRS did.

"

We'd been operating for six years without realizing our Tennessee charitable registration had lapsed. ComplianceKeeper caught it two weeks before we submitted a major foundation application. That grant funded our entire summer program.

Retroactive state registration — $75,000 grant preserved
Darnell Washington, executive director of a youth mentoring nonprofit

Darnell Washington

Executive Director · Pathway Youth Mentoring

501(c)(3) · Nashville, TN

"

I'm the treasurer and I work a full-time job. I was reconciling our books every Sunday night and genuinely didn't know if we were filing the right 990 form. Having someone who just handles it — and explains it in plain English — took a weight off I didn't realize I was carrying.

990-EZ filed on time for 3 consecutive years
Rosa Gutiérrez, volunteer treasurer of a community health clinic

Rosa Gutiérrez

Volunteer Treasurer · Vecinos Community Health Clinic

501(c)(3) · El Paso, TX

"

Our church started a food pantry that grew faster than we expected. Suddenly we had restricted grants, a separate EIN, board minutes we'd never kept. ComplianceKeeper came in, didn't judge the mess, and built us a system we could actually maintain.

Governance system built from scratch — audit-ready in 60 days
Pastor James Okafor, founding pastor of a community church with a food pantry

Pastor James Okafor

Founding Pastor · New Covenant Community Church

Religious Organization · Columbus, OH

200+

990 filings handled

47

Audits resolved

41

States covered

130+

Boards advised

One conversation to know exactly where you stand.

No obligation. No sales pitch. A 45-minute review where we go through your compliance picture line by line and tell you plainly what needs attention — and what doesn't.

Serving food banks, youth programs, health clinics, and faith-based organizations across the United States