Sometimes a donor will contribute to an NFP through an intermediary. An intermediary might be a community foundation, a fund-raising foundation established to support a specific NFP, a federated fund-raising organization such as United Way, a bank (in the capacity of a trustee) or an entirely unrelated NFP, to name but a few of the possibilities. This chapter discusses the accounting and reporting for those transactions. Throughout this discussion, the term intermediary is used in a generic sense to describe an organization that acts as a go-between in facilitating certain transactions. This usage is broader than the definition of intermediary in the ASC Master Glossary, which is intended to highlight subtle differences between intermediaries and agents.

Contribution transactions involving intermediaries raise questions as to whether the intermediary or the ultimate NFP recipient should recognize contribution revenue. This chapter describes a special overlay to the contribution accounting model discussed in NP 6 and NP 7 to provide a framework for addressing these situations. See NP 8.3 for guidance on identifying contribution transactions that are within the scope of that special framework, and NP 8.4 through NP 8.6 for a description of the accounting requirements for intermediary organizations and the ultimate recipient NFPs under various circumstances.

Some transactions through intermediaries involve gift arrangements known as split-interest agreements, whereby a third-party invests and administers donated assets, the benefits of which are shared among NFPs, or between NFPs and other beneficiaries. Other split-interest agreements are invested and administered by the arrangement’s charitable beneficiary. Split-interest arrangements are discussed in NP 8.7.