Filing lag
The 12 to 24 months between a foundation's activity and the public availability of its return.
A 990 covers a fiscal year that has already closed, is filed months after that year ends, and is then released by the IRS in batches. The practical result is that the most recent complete year of public data is usually one to two years behind today.
Every figure drawn from a filing is therefore dated to the fiscal year it came from and not to the present. A foundation may have changed strategy, leadership or budget since, and nothing in the public record would show it yet.
See it in the data
Related terms
Questions and answers
- What is a filing lag?
- The 12 to 24 months between a foundation's activity and the public availability of its return. A 990 covers a fiscal year that has already closed, is filed months after that year ends, and is then released by the IRS in batches. The practical result is that the most recent complete year of public data is usually one to two years behind today.
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