FOR PRIVATE & COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS

Accounting, Tax & Advisory for Private Foundations

From the 5% distribution rule to Form 990-PF, we handle the numbers behind your grantmaking so you can focus on your mission.

Serving Seattle-area foundations since 1971 · Licensed WA CPAs

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Accounting Built Around How Foundations Actually Operate

Greenwood Ohlund provides accounting for private foundations and community foundations in the Seattle area. If you file Form 990-PF, you’re managing the 5% minimum distribution, excise tax on net investment income, and self-dealing rules that come with being a private foundation. If you’re a community foundation, you’re a public charity filing Form 990, managing donor-advised funds and pooled investments instead. Different filings, different rules, same need for an accountant who already knows which one applies to you.

We handle both. Private foundations get 990-PF preparation and the full excise-tax regime handled correctly. Community foundations get 990 filing and donor-advised fund accounting. Either way, you get the audits your board expects and investment reporting built around how your foundation actually holds and moves money.

OUR CLIENTS

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The Challenges Foundations Face — and How We Help

We calculate your required distribution based on the fair market value of your investment assets, track it throughout the year, and make sure your qualifying distributions land where they need to.

We calculate and file your 4940 excise tax correctly, at the current rate, and make sure the income and deductions feeding that calculation are accounted for properly in the first place.

We help you identify who counts as a disqualified person and structure your transactions so ordinary foundation activity doesn’t accidentally trigger a self-dealing violation.

We track each fund separately, by donor and by advisor, so your reporting reflects what’s actually happening inside your foundation, not just one blended total.

WHAT WE DO

How We Support Foundations

Tax Services

990-PF preparation and excise tax filings for private foundations, as well as Form 990 for community foundations, handled by people who know which rules apply to you.

Audit & Assurance

Financial statement audits that your board and grantees trust, backed by decades of nonprofit and foundation audit experience.

Accounting & CFO Services

Investment and endowment reporting, fund-level accounting for donor-advised funds, and distribution tracking built around how your foundation actually moves money.

What Makes Foundation Accounting Different

Private foundations run under a different regulatory regime than most nonprofits. Excise tax on net investment income, a 5% minimum distribution requirement, self-dealing rules covering trustees and family members, limits on how much of a business the foundation and its insiders can own together, restrictions on investments that could jeopardize the foundation’s purpose, and expenditure responsibility for grants outside public charities or across borders. Miss any one of these, and the foundation itself, or the people running it personally, can owe an excise tax over it.

Community foundations don’t carry that regime, since they’re public charities, not private foundations. Their complexity runs a different direction: fund-level accounting across every donor-advised fund, each with its own advisor and its own reporting line, alongside the same audit and 990 filing expectations any public charity faces.

Both carry endowment funds governed by Washington’s Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, and both need registration with Washington’s Charities Program once they solicit from the public. We know which regime you’re actually operating under, and we build your accounting around that one, not a generic nonprofit template.

We serve foundations like yours

Foundations Like Yours

We work with a wide range of private and community foundations, including:

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Private family foundations

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Independent and private foundations

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Corporate foundations

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Community foundations

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Private operating foundations

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Grantmaking public charities

Why Foundations Choose Greenwood Ohlund

Our accounting and CFO services provide structured financial oversight, accurate reporting, and practical insight for organizations that require clarity and consistency. We deliver full accounting services and advisory support designed to strengthen financial management without unnecessary complexity.

Decades in nonprofit accounting

We’ve been doing this since 1971.

Tax, audit, accounting, and CFO expertise, one firm

Most firms our size don’t offer all four under one roof. You get a Form 990 team, an audit team, and a CFO-level advisory team who already talk to each other, instead of coordinating three separate vendors yourself.

Seattle-rooted, with clients across Washington and beyond

We’re based in Seattle and built around the Pacific Northwest, with clients in other states when the relationship calls for it.

A relationship that runs all year, not just at filing time

We’re recognized as a Peak Firm and a PSBJ Washington’s Best Workplaces honoree, and that same culture shows up in how we work with clients: regular conversations and actual availability, not a firm you hear from once a year.

EXPERIENCE THE GO DIFFERENCE

Your Foundation Team

Matt Smith

AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Matt Smith, CPA

Partner

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TAX SERVICES

Paul Jandl

Senior

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TAX SERVICES

Eric Kimpton, CPA

Director

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Riley Stringer

TAX SERVICES

Riley Stringer

Manager

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TAX SERVICES

Michaela Thomassen

Senior

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Jason Mallon, CPA

CFO & ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Jason Mallon, CPA

Partner

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Andrew Van Ness

AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Andrew Van Ness, CPA

Partner

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Brian

CFO & ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Brian Vinciguerra

Partner

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MEET THE TEAM
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FAQ

Foundation Accounting FAQs

A private foundation is typically funded by one source, like a family or company, and files Form 990-PF under a specific excise-tax regime. A public charity, including a community foundation, draws broad public support and files a standard Form 990. We work with both.

Form 990-PF is the annual information and excise-tax return private foundations file with the IRS, due the 15th day of the fifth month after the fiscal year ends. It reports investment income, distributions, and any excise tax owed. We handle the filing and the underlying calculations.

Private foundations must distribute a “distributable amount” each year, based on 5% of the average fair market value of their non-charitable-use assets. Miss it, and the foundation owes a 30% excise tax on the shortfall. We calculate and track this throughout the year, not just at filing time.

It depends on the scope. Tax filings alone cost less than ongoing bookkeeping, audit support, and CFO-level advisory combined. Rather than quote a number that won’t fit every organization, we start with a conversation about your revenue mix and reporting needs, then build a proposal around what you need.

Self-dealing covers transactions between a foundation and a “disqualified person,” like a trustee, officer, or family member, including sales, loans, and compensation, regardless of whether the terms are fair. We help you structure transactions so ordinary foundation activity doesn’t accidentally cross that line.

It depends on your bylaws, funders, and state requirements, not a single universal rule. As a foundation audit Seattle firm, we handle both financial statement audits and any Single Audit triggered by federal funding, and can tell you which applies once we know your specifics.

CONTACT US

Let's Talk About Your Foundation

990-PF preparation, the 5% distribution requirement, or an audit your board and grantees will trust, we can take it from here. Reach out and we’ll start with a conversation about what your foundation actually needs.

Greenwood Ohlund, PS
4241 21st Ave W, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98199
(206) 782-1767