Reading Your Form 990

Every association files a Form 990, and every board member is entitled to read it, but the form's parts and schedules aren't self-explanatory to someone without a finance background. This guide walks through the sections that matter most for board oversight — the summary page, the compensation schedule, the balance sheet, and the program service accomplishments — in plain terms, using the questions Chief Operating Officer and CFO Lorraine Petrakis fields most often from new board members.

Written as a companion to NANA's on-demand course of the same name, the guide is organized to be read alongside your own organization's most recent filing rather than as an abstract tutorial, with a specific question to ask at the end of each section.

Published by NANA's research team as part of the guide series.