Introduction

By law and IRS regulation, all tax-exempt nonprofit organizations must make their annual information returns (Form 990) available for public inspection at all offices with three or more staff, during normal business hours. Since the shutdown of the Pacifica national office, it has been difficult to ascertain where this material could be inspected, although the Pacifica Web site contains instructions* for ordering copies by mail.

In mid-August, I called Pacifica Executive Assistant Vanessa Ransom and left messages requesting access to these files. On Friday, August 20, upon my return home from the Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing* on Pacifica, I found a message from Vanessa saying she was giving the documents to KPFA to make available. KPFA Bookkeeper Meigan Devlin now has copies available for inspection, or for purchase for a copying charge of $4.15 apiece. I have scanned the documents and placed them on this Web site, from which you can print copies for $-0-.

SPECIAL THANKS to Luis Soto for help with the tedious HTML coding of these pages.

Analysis: Highlights of This Page

I am not an accountant, and have never been in a management role at a radio or television station. However, I have prepared numerous Form 990 information returns as a manager of nonprofit organizations, including my current employer, which has a $2 million budget this year. My examination of the Pacifica Form 990 returns for FY 1995-1996, 1996-1997, and 1997-1998, did not uncover any obvious "red flags"; however, someone with experience in radio management should comb through the numbers carefully, as should an accountant familiar with the broadcast industry and one familiar with auditing nonprofits.

The form for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 1999 will, if honestly prepared, reveal some crucial information, or at least illuminate information that is being revealed to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee -- most likely including the cost of the security guards, personnel consultants, and the public relations firm hired around the time of the KPFA lockout. Pacifica has 5.5 months to file that return, making the deadline April 15, 2000; moreover, on request the IRS routinely grants a 90-day extension, which would allow Pacifica to file as late as mid-July, 2000. (To download the IRS's instructions for Form 990, in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format [301K], click HERE*.)

This return runs from Oct. 1, 1995 (it is mislabeled on Line A at the top) to Sept. 30, 1996. Much of the interesting information in the 1995-1996 return (and the other returns on this Web site) is in the attached schedules.

The schedules related to this page, along with my comments, may be found by clicking below:
Schedule #1 (lines 1a, 1c)
Schedule #2A (line 20)

Pages of this Return:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

Pacifica Returns Online:

1995-1996 | 1996-1997

This analysis prepared by Steve Freedkin, who has significant experience as a nonprofit organization manager.
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*Links to other Web sites may open in separate browser windows. Simply close those windows to return here.