Methodology
Figures come from the body that issued them: IRS instructions, state registries, and vendors' own published pricing. Every page carries the date it was last checked. Where sources conflict, the page says so rather than picking the most quotable number.
You are entitled to know how a page here was made before you rely on it. This is that account, in enough detail to hold us to.
The source hierarchy
Not all sources are equal, and we work down this list rather than taking whatever ranks first in a search.
- The body that issued the rule. IRS forms and instructions for federal tax matters. A state’s own registry or Attorney General for state filing requirements. Statute where it is the clearest available statement.
- The organization’s own publication. For vendor pricing, the vendor’s published pricing page, not a comparison site’s summary of it.
- Named research with a stated method. Sector surveys where the sample and period are disclosed.
- Reported figures. Used only where nothing above exists, always attributed to whoever reported them, and flagged as such.
We do not cite other content sites as authority for a factual claim. If a number can only be traced to a blog citing another blog, it does not run.
What happens when sources disagree
More often than you would expect, particularly on processing times and state requirements.
When published estimates conflict, the page says so and gives the range rather than picking the most quotable figure. Our article on starting a nonprofit says the full Form 1023 takes months, with published estimates ranging from roughly six to twelve, because that is the honest state of the evidence. Writing “takes six months” would read better and would be a guess dressed as a fact.
Where we cannot resolve a disagreement, we say we could not. An acknowledged gap is more useful than false confidence, and it is the difference between a reference and content.
What “checked” actually means
Every page carries a last-checked date. That date means a person opened the primary source and confirmed each figure on the page still matches it. It does not mean the page was skimmed, edited for style, or republished.
If we update a page without re-verifying its figures, the checked date does not move. That distinction is the whole value of the date, and inflating it would make it worthless.
How often things get re-checked
| Content | Re-checked | Why that cadence |
|---|---|---|
| IRS fees and filing thresholds | At least annually | Change infrequently but consequentially |
| State filing fees | At least annually | Fifty separate authorities, each moving independently |
| Vendor pricing | Quarterly | Changes constantly and without notice |
| Payment processing rates | Quarterly | Directly affects money in your account |
| Definitions and concepts | Annually | Stable, but terminology shifts |
Anything we learn has changed is corrected immediately rather than waiting for its cycle.
How software gets assessed
Three things are stated on every page covering a product, because leaving them out is how software writing becomes untrustworthy.
- Which plan was examined. Assessing the enterprise tier and implying it applies to the free one is misleading by omission.
- What it cost on the date checked. Not “starts from”, which hides the tier most organizations actually need.
- Whether we used it or read the documentation. These are different, and conflating them is dishonest.
Where a paid plan is needed to assess something properly, we pay for it. We do not accept free access in exchange for coverage, because an account granted by a vendor is a relationship with that vendor.
What we do not do
- No scores out of ten. A single number hides the reasoning, and the reasoning is the useful part. We say who something suits and who should avoid it.
- No vendor-supplied content, guest posts, or copy suggested by a company we cover.
- No legal or tax advice. We describe rules and cite their source. For decisions with consequences, we tell you to talk to a nonprofit attorney or CPA, and we mean it.
- No content written to fill a keyword gap. If we have nothing useful to say about a topic, there is no page for it. Several planned pages have been dropped for exactly this reason.
- No aggregate ratings in structured data unless a real rating exists. Invented rating markup is a fabrication aimed at search engines.
On research tools
Research and drafting tools are used in production here, as they are at most publications now. What is not delegated is the checking.
Every figure on this site has been read against its primary source by a person before publication. No page is published unread. Where a tool suggested a number we could not then verify, the number did not run.
We say this plainly because the alternative, quietly using such tools while implying otherwise, is the thing that actually damages trust.
Corrections
Errors are corrected, dated, and logged publicly in the corrections log. The original claim is described rather than erased, so the record shows what changed and when.
If you find something wrong, tell us. It gets fixed and credited.