From ee14ef249484e66a364f4a2a193c596da35a0296 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Bradley M. Kuhn" Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:13:00 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Basic introduction to the project. --- README.md | 17 ++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index a76a8bb..15d9e7b 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,7 +1,18 @@ -# Using Ledger CLI for Non-Profit organization Accounting +# Using Ledger CLI for Non-Profit Organizational Accounting -Non-profit organizations, particularly 501(c)(3) charities in the USA, have -their own specific accounting needs. +Non-profit organizations (NPOs), particularly 501(c)(3) charities in the USA, +have their own specific accounting needs. These often differ from for-profit +accounting needs. For example, for-profit-oriented systems often make +problematic assumptions about the workflow of accounting tasks (often because +NPOs rely primarily on donations, rather than fee-for-service or +widget-selling income). Also, non-profit income is categorized differently +than for-profit income, and the reporting requirements vary wildly from their +for-profit equivalents. + +This project is designed to provide some basic templates, tutorials, workflow +documentation and scripts to handle accounting for an NPO. The primary +example is a +[direct project (aka Model A) fiscal sponsor NPO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_sponsorship#Models_of_fiscal_sponsorship). # Copyright and License of this project