- As to putting out a financial statement for donors to see, no non-profit has to do this. EWTN does not do so. I don’t know about Catholic Answers. Only organizations that are part of the Catholic Church have to do this. The Church requires it. Your parish has to do this. Hospitals and schools must have these available for people who ask to see them. Private corporations operate according to civil law, not ecclesial law. The individual priest, religious and laity are bound to follow Church law, but not the corporation.
Thank you, Br JR, for the clarification regarding the reporting requirements (or not) in Church law. I was referring to the legal requirements imposed by the IRS on 501(c)3 nonprofits operating within the United States. In addition to the requirement to file an annual Form 990 (which becomes public information after it is filed–usually a few months into the next tax year), there are state requirements in most states that require annual reregistering and reaffirming tax status. It is true that private, for-profit corporations are not required to file these forms, as their donors/customers are not receiving the benefits of the charitable tax deduction, and the recipient corporation is not exempt from taxes. Some religious organizations, though nonprofit, are also exempt from filing public forms, but that is because they are structured as churches, not charitable organizations.
In any case, as the most recent audit (published on the PFL website today) indicates, Priests for Life is registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, and is required to file Form 990 annually. There are no 990s public since 2007 or 2008. The audit also acknowledges that PFL is delinquent in meeting state registration requirements (a more common oversight, as the recent flap over Michael Voris’s organization brought to light).
Donors, Catholic or not, depend on the information made available in 990s, and the way this information is analyzed by independent fundraising consultants such as The Foundation Center and *********, to make prudent judgments regarding the stewardship of their gifts. An independent audit, made available ordinarily only internally, does not serve this purpose. With an organization like Priests for Life–which derives its tax-exempt status from cooperation with government filing requirements and limitations on lobbying or other political spending–and particularly with the interlocking nature of so many PFL-related ministries, these safeguards are especially important.
This is not the whole of the question, but I think it might help readers to tease out the differing but equally binding requirements of canon and US law. Thanks for making the distinction.
