[donb2934]

Since contributions to a volunteer fire dept. are a form of public funding, shouldn't the VFD have to account for those funds and their expenditures, as well as the status of all accounts they have when they turn in an annual budget request to the Emergency Service District that is their primary funding source? Otherwise there would be no way to tract how their different accounts have the money in them that they do.

[ScottGem]

And your question is? Yes, they are required to do an accounting of all their income and how they spend it. This should be public info available to all taxpayers in the district.

[Fr_Chuck]

The question is of course, is the volunteer fire department a public or private organization.
Do they receive grants or actual direct funding from the government ?

Is the 501c3 a sub group ?

What is the formal set up.

Our fire department was a private group, we received government grant to accept, and accepted donations, as well as charged for services for anyone who was not a member.
We were not a public or government group, merely private, set up to provide service.

[donb2934]

Sorry if I was a bit confusing. Our local VFD is funded by taxes collected for an emergency service district and that 5 member board contracts for service with our 501c3 VFD. It's now time to do the annual budget and I believe they should show in their budget ALL sources of income ( ESD funds, donations, fundraisers, cd's/interest etc... ) and their telling the board that nothing but the ESD funds is any of their business. I want to know what the rules are and where exactly to find them so I can print it off and show it to them.

[AK lawyer]

Sorry if I was a bit confusing. Our local VFD is funded by taxes collected for an emergency service district and that 5 member board contracts for service with our 501c3 VFD. It's now time to do the annual budget and I believe they should show in their budget ALL sources of income ( ESD funds, donations, fundraisers, cd's/interest etc...) and their telling the board that nothing but the ESD funds is any of their business. I want to know what the rules are and where exactly to find them so I can print it off and show it to them.

The local government which runs the emergency service district should require a proper accounting from the VFD. If they refuse to do that, the ESD board, or whatever should refuse to renew the funding and take legal action for such an accounting. Have you asked your local government for the applicable rules?

[ebaines]

If the VFD is a 501(c)(3) then it must file a tax return every year that documents all income from all sources and all expenses, and those income tax filings are public record. So that's one way you can see the data you're looking for. By the way - I think most VFDs are actually tax-exemt under 501(c)(4), not 501(c)(3) - their tax return filings are still public, though donations are not tax-deductibble.

As for whether the VFD must includes all accounting details in their negotiations with the ESD to provide service -- I would think that if the ESD demanded it the VFD would supply it or else risk losing their customer. Further, the VFD should be producing an annual report using audited figures that summarizes their financial position. If they aren't doing this then I would seriously question the management of the VFD. Drawing an analogy between the VFD and a private school - when a school sets tuition rates it doesn't have to provide information to their students justifying the tuition amount they charge, but they certainly make available information on their sources of income including tuition, grants, annual fund contributions, etc in their annual reports.

[joypulv]

It's now time to do whose annual budget? Town, ESD, or VFD, all 3?

From nolo.com:
Nonprofits are required to submit their financial statements and other information to the IRS.
The IRS and nonprofits themselves are required to disclose the information on Form 990 to anyone who asks. Nonprofits must allow public inspection of these records during regular business hours at their principal offices.
In addition, people can request information from the IRS by writing a letter, including the name of the organization, the year, and the type of tax return requested, and send it to:
Commissioner of Internal Revenue
Attn: Freedom of Information Reading Room
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224

[ebaines]

You can also get this info from GuideStar nonprofit reports and Forms 990 for donors, grantmakers and businesses You can get a tax-exempt organization's summary report of income and expenses for free on line as well as their latest Form 990. Just for fun I did a search on "VFD" and of course hundreds come up, so I looked at the first one which was the "Lake Jackson District VFD" in Manassas VA. Its Form 990 was available (attached) and you can see that in 2010 it received $3553 in individual contributions, $613,227 in program service revenue (grants from Prince William County), $28,974 in investment income, and $221,379 in other revenue (fund raising events and gaming activities). I think this is the sort of info the OP is looking for.

[donb2934]

The local government which runs the emergency service district should require a proper accounting from the VFD. If they refuse to do that, the ESD board, or whatever should refuse to renew the funding and take legal action for such an accounting. Have you asked your local government for the applicable rules?

The ESD is a stand alone gov. Sub committee voted in by the general public of the district. The chief of the VFD is hot tempered bully that lies to the ESD board and they believe him or go along with him because he threatens to pull out of his contract and take the tools equipment and apparatus and go serve the local city that is not part of the ESD. The law says he can't do that but non of the board members will listen to me.

[joypulv]

Call his bluff. Demand that 990 and tell him he's going to lose 501c3 status when the IRS finds out that he didn't comply. Approach a neighboring VFD about temporary work. Talk to the county court about an injunction, although I'm just guessing about that part.