Eric Joseph Rubio

Eric Joseph Rubio is a nonprofit and arts management professional originally from Chicago, and now based in Washington, DC. He has served in staff and leadership roles with churches, schools, and arts organizations in the Chicago, South Florida, and Washington, DC areas. Eric is a proud alumnus of the Wheaton College (IL) Conservatory of Music, and is an occasional freelance writer across a variety of platforms. Follow Eric on Twitter and Instagram at @TheRubioRoom, and visit his website ericjrubio.com.

Depreciation Basics for Non-Profit Arts Organizations

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Depreciation, in the accounting sense, is the bookkeeping process of lowering the value of something that your organization owns over time. It is generally applied to physical or tangible objects that an organization uses long-term. Disclaimer: What is a blog post about a legal or financial topic without a disclaimer? This is not legal advice. You should not be getting your legal advice from a blog post. The purpose of this post is to give you things to think about before taking action. Speak to an accountant and/or a lawyer about specifics. … Read more

How to Account Your Earned Revenue

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In the not-for-profit world, there are two types of revenue (as defined by tax law and accounting standards): contributed and earned. Contributed revenue includes monetary donations from individuals and corporations as well as grants from foundations and government agencies. Earned revenue includes ticket sales, program and service fees, and media sales. A good rule of thumb is that if a transaction represents the customer receiving a distinct item (a CD, a branded mug) or service (a performance of a concert or play), that transaction is earned revenue. If not, it’s contributed. Even … Read more

Common Points of Confusion Between the Accounting and Development Teams

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As our organizations grow, the number of donations and the number of financial transactions grow along with it. On top of that, the accounting function, if it hasn’t already, likely will move from cash basis to the more complex accrual basis. This growth leads to the need for specialization among staff and often a separation of the gift processing and bookkeeping functions. It is very appropriate and desirable for internal control purposes to have separate people handling the bookkeeping aspects of a donation from the donor stewardship aspects. And yet, this bifurcation … Read more