Accountability Tools for Private Foundations

The Accountability Self-Assessment Tool is a comprehensive and flexible resource that private foundations (family, independent or corporate) can use to help ensure that they are complying with all relevant federal laws and regulations and to assess how well they are engaging in generally recommended good practices for being accountable to the public.

Self-Assessment Questionnaire

Use the Accountability Self-Assessment Questionnaire to assess your foundation for both legal compliance issues and accountability issues. The questionnaire comes in versions for both staffed and unstaffed private foundations:

• Accountability Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Staffed Foundations (MS Word Forms Template file)
• Accountability Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Unstaffed Foundations (MS Word Forms Template file)

Self-Assessment Worksheet

The Accountability Self-Assessment Questionnaire is accompanied by an MS Excel Worksheet to help you tabulate your responses:

• Accountability Self-Assessment Worksheet for Staffed Foundations (MS Excel file)
• Accountability Self-Assessment Worksheet for Unstaffed Foundations (MS Excel file)

Legal Compliance Checklist

If you just want to ensure that your foundation is complying with the law, you can use the Legal Compliance Checklist. (All the legal items in the checklist are also included in the Accountability Self-Assessment Questionnaire). The checklist comes in versions for both staffed and unstaffed private foundations:

• Legal Compliance Checklist for Staffed Foundations (MS Word Forms Template file)
• Legal Compliance Checklist for Unstaffed Foundations (MS Word Forms Template file)

Additional Resources

• Learn more about any of the topics and issues covered in the self-assessment tool.
• Glossary of terms