The Note · a weekly column

The Note

A short, plain-language column that runs at the top of the gleantree nonprofit digest most weeks — one idea about reading the public record. Here is the archive. Newest first.

• September 13, 2026What a reserve is forOne of my favorite hometown nonprofits is Sidewalk, the film center and cinema in Birmingham. My family loves going to movies there, especially the pajama-party screenings on Saturday and Sunday…
• September 6, 2026What loyalty looks like on paperWe've spent a couple of weeks on the big picture of giving — two weeks ago, that most foundation money never crosses a state line; last week, that the checks are small while the dollars are big. This…
• August 30, 2026The checks are small. The dollars are big.Here's a puzzle from the filings, in two true sentences. Four out of five foundation checks are for less than $25,000. And nearly three-quarters of all foundation dollars move in checks of $100,000…
• August 23, 2026Giving stays homeA few weeks ago, the figure in this column showed nine funders of one small Mobile dance nonprofit — and every one of them was an Alabama funder. That looked like a nice coincidence. It isn't. It's…
• August 16, 2026What a Gleaning is forEvery week this digest hands you a few Gleanings — a funder giving more, a foundation new to your state, a grant bigger than anything its filer has made before. Before we go further, a confession:…
• August 9, 2026Finding your fundersAsk any grant writer how prospect research actually happens and you'll hear some version of the same thing: a search engine, a borrowed prospect list two years stale, a board member who "knows…
• August 2, 2026Follow the moneyFor three weeks we've been reading a nonprofit's own 990 — its finances, its pay. This week, turn the form around: foundations file too, and a foundation's 990 lists every grant it made — who got the…
• July 26, 2026What a 990 says about payLast week I said we'd get to what the people at the top are paid — so here it is. A 990 lists the highest-paid staff by name, with their salaries, and it's the one figure in the whole filing that…
• July 19, 2026Reading the moneyLast week I called the 990 a nonprofit's financial portrait. This week, how to actually read one — because the number most people reach for first tells you less than they think. Open almost any…
• July 12, 2026What's actually in a Form 990?If your organization is a nonprofit, you probably file a Form 990 with the IRS every year — it's the annual return for tax-exempt organizations, and once the IRS processes it, it becomes public. You…
• July 5, 2026Welcome — and thank you for being firstIf you're reading this, you're one of the first people ever to get a gleantree digest. Thank you. Truly. Starting something new is equal parts exciting and terrifying, and having a real audience in…
• July 1, 2026Why I started gleantreeI've spent about thirty years working with data — building the pipelines and models that turn raw records into something people can actually act on. Over that time I've come to realize: there's an…