Schedule B: reporting contributors on Form 990

Schedule B, the Schedule of Contributors, tells the IRS who gave your organization significant gifts during the year and how much. It is one of the most common schedules, and one of the most misunderstood, because the thresholds, the name-and-address rule and the public disclosure rule all depend on what kind of organization you are.

Who files Schedule B

Every organization that files Form 990, Form 990-EZ or Form 990-PF must attach Schedule B unless it certifies that it doesn't meet the filing requirements. You certify that by answering "No" on Form 990, Part IV, line 2, or by checking the box on Form 990-EZ, line H, or Form 990-PF, Part I, line 2. Organizations that file the 990-N don't file Schedule B.

Schedule B covers the contributions reported on Form 990, Part VIII, line 1 (or the matching line of the 990-EZ or 990-PF): gifts, grants, bequests and devises of money or property, whether or not they are for charitable purposes. Fees for services are not contributions. A "contributor" can be an individual, a trust, a partnership, a corporation or another exempt organization. Certain public charities also list governmental units as contributors.

Schedule B uses the same accounting method as the rest of the return. An accrual-basis organization counts a pledge in the year it books the pledge, even if the money or property arrives later.

The general rule: $5,000

Unless a special rule applies, list every contributor who gave $5,000 or more during the tax year, in money, securities or other property, directly or indirectly.

To total a contributor's gifts, add together every separate gift of $1,000 or more. Gifts under $1,000 may be disregarded. Noncash gifts are also described and valued in Part II of the schedule.

The special rules

501(c)(3) public charities that meet the 33⅓% test

A 501(c)(3) that meets the 33⅓% public support test under sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), not just the 10% facts-and-circumstances test, lists only contributors whose gifts were more than the greater of $5,000 or 2% of total contributions (Form 990, Part VIII, line 1h, or Form 990-EZ, line 1). To use this rule, the organization must show on Schedule A, Part II, that it met the 33⅓% test for the current or prior year, or check the first-five-years box there. See our Schedule A guide for how the test works.

The 2% rule only helps organizations with more than $250,000 of contributions, because below that, 2% is less than $5,000.

Social clubs and fraternal organizations: 501(c)(7), (8) and (10)

Social and recreational clubs (501(c)(7)), fraternal beneficiary societies (501(c)(8)) and domestic fraternal societies (501(c)(10)) follow the $5,000 general rule for ordinary contributions. For gifts received exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, they list each contributor whose gifts for those purposes totaled more than $1,000 for the year, and complete Part III describing how each such gift was used or held. They enter "N/A" instead of names and addresses. A club that received no more than $1,000 from any single contributor for these purposes only checks a box and enters the total.

Who reports donor names to the IRS

For years, every Schedule B filer reported contributor names and addresses. That changed in two steps:

1. In 2018, Rev. Proc. 2018-38 relieved organizations other than 501(c)(3)s from reporting names and addresses. A federal court in Montana set the revenue procedure aside in 2019 on procedural grounds.
2. In May 2020, Treasury and the IRS adopted the same change in final regulations (T.D. 9898).

Today the rule is:

Organizations relieved of reporting names must still collect them, keep them in their books and records, and provide them to the IRS on request. The change was about what goes on the return, not about recordkeeping.

What the public sees

Exempt organization returns are public, but Schedule B has its own rules:

• Form 990-PF filers: Schedule B is fully open to public inspection, names included.
• Section 527 organizations filing a 990 or 990-EZ: Schedule B is fully public.
• All other 990 and 990-EZ filers: contributor names and addresses are not required to be disclosed. Amounts, descriptions of noncash gifts and everything else must be made available, unless the information clearly identifies the contributor.

In practice, most charities provide a public copy of Schedule B with names and addresses removed. Our guide to public disclosure covers what else must be shared and for how long.

State requirements

Many states accept a copy of the federal return as part of their annual charity filing. The IRS instructions warn against including Schedule B in those copies unless the state specifically requires a schedule of contributors, because a state that doesn't ask for it may inadvertently make it public with the rest of the return. A few states have required unredacted donor information in the past, and their rules have changed over time, so check each state's current instructions before you file. Our state charity filings guide explains how state reporting works.

990IRS.com is a private company, not the IRS. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice for your organization. Example organizations and figures are hypothetical.