Our firm has a long, distinguished history of servicing the nonprofit sector. In 1990, we formalized our specialization through the formation of our Nonprofit Services Group. Currently, our group ranks as one of the largest CPA practices in the Delaware Valley dedicated exclusively to researching, educating, and serving the needs of nonprofits. Over the years, we have consulted with hundreds of nonprofit organizations. Currently, we work with over 150 nonprofit organizations, and our clients include trade associations, private schools, schools for the disabled, social health and welfare organizations, long term care providers, and private foundations. Many of the schools for the disabled and health and welfare organizations receive some type of government or foundation grants and as such have government and private compliance reporting requirements; we specialize in addressing these compliance needs as well as advising on how our clients go about securing these types of funds. We recently expanded our Nonprofit Services Group to include other advisors who routinely work with nonprofits. This is to ensure that Mercadien has a well rounded perspective on the issues affecting the nonprofit sector. Our outside advisers are Ruthellen Rubin, CFRE of Ruthellen Rubin & Associates, Frances McElhill, Esq. of Archer & Greiner, Josh Bradford, AAI of Rue Insurance, and Paul Brook, CPA, CFP,MBA of Paul Brook and Associates.
We pride ourselves in our ability to remain at the forefront of issues affecting the nonprofit sector. As accountability and transparency remain priorities for this sector (currently there are over 1.5 million tax-exempt organizations registered with the IRS, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics), we perceive our responsibility to our nonprofit clients to include educating them on the issues affecting their management and reporting responsibilities and taking an active role in advocating for best practices without creating such complexity and cost that all benefit is eroded. Our desire is to bring practical solutions to our clients and represent the sector in various government and legislative initiatives.
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The Nonprofit Organization
Nonprofits have been broadly defined as voluntary organizations formed to fulfill a social mission or public benefit. Such organizations generally are formed by individuals in a community who join together to serve clients or the community.
Although many organizations are formed at the grassroots level, nonprofit organizations make up 5% of the gross domestic product of the U.S. For the most part, they receive funding from sources other than their clients. Accordingly, they are accountable to those resource providers for stewardship of the funds they receive.
In addition, nonprofits are accountable to a variety of regulators, standard setters, advocacy groups and selected professional groups. Thus, in addition to being responsible for managing the delivery of services, the management of these organizations must continually be alert to the needs of society.
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