All nonprofit organizations use a 12-month period for financial reporting known as a fiscal year. Fiscal years may follow the calendar year (January 1-December 31), but they might also be another set of 12 months, such as July 1-June 30, or September 1-August 30, following the academic calendar, or May 1-April 30 if your organization has seasonal programs culminating in the early spring. Fiscal years always begin on the first day of the month and end on the last day of the month, and organizations choose a fiscal year when they apply for 501 (c) (3) status, or follow the fiscal year of their parent organization. The fiscal year an organization uses must match their their IRS 990 reporting, and should generally be consistent from year to year. The fiscal year is referred to by the year in which it ends.
SMU DataArts has no requirements for when an organization should complete a Cultural Data Profile for any given fiscal year. You can complete Cultural Data Profiles for your organization based on a schedule that works best for your organization. If your organization is completing the Cultural Data Profile for a specific grantmaker check the grantmaker's application guidelines to see if they are requiring specific fiscal years.
For more information on non-12 month fiscal years click
here.
