If you are submitting the Cultural Data Profile (CDP) for an independent organization, you may use your 990 to provide some of the details for your CDP. As you review your 990, keep in mind that certain line items will not have an exact equivalent on the CDP. For example, the CDP breaks out government contributions amounts by city, county, state, and federal governments. However, the 990 records government contributions as one lump sum.
Because the CDP follows GAAP and the 990 does not, your 990 will not contain certain items such as the value of all in-kind contributions and unrealized gains on investments. If you wish to include these in your CDP, you may need to refer to your internal financial documentation for the information.
On the 990, you are not required to report revenue by restriction. This is required by GAAP accounting and by the CDP. To be sure you are reporting restricted revenue correctly, you may need to refer to your internal financial documentation and/or consult with an accountant.
Unaudited organizations may choose to skip entering a balance sheet in the Cultural Data Profile, although a balance sheet can be a useful document to get an accurate picture of the financial health of your organization. To enter a balance sheet for your organization by following your 990, please use the End of Year column to fill in "Balance Sheet: Assets, Liabilities, & Net Assets."
If you choose to use your 990 as the basis for your CDP, make sure that all revenue, expense, and balance sheet totals match the 990, even though some of the detail information may come from other sources. Otherwise, using a variety of source documentation for the revenue, expense, and balance sheet totals may result in inconsistencies.
Be sure to read the supplementary schedules of the 990 which may contain additional information and the details about “other” lines, such as Other Expenses, Other Assets, etc. These schedules might be particularly useful:
- Schedule B - Schedule of Contributors
- Schedule D - Supplemental Financial Statements
- Schedule G - Supplemental Information Regarding Fundraising or Gaming Activities
- Schedule M - Noncash Contributions
- Schedule O - Supplemental Information to Form 990 or 990-EZ
- Schedule R - Related Organizations and Unrelated Partnerships
