Faith-based, nonprofit & membership orgs
Books and taxes for trade and industry associations.
Annual member dues, certification exam fees, an exhibit hall booth sold to a vendor, and the year's biggest conference registration wave. Your own bookkeeper keeps it sorted, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September came in at $12,400 after expenses. Annual conference registration is the bulk of it, so I kept booth sales in their own line, separate from attendee fees.
- Member dues renewal batchMember dues
- Conference registration waveConference revenue
- Exhibit booth sale, vendor partnerExhibit booth revenue
- Conference venue depositConference costs
- Certification exam administration feeCertification program costs
Why your books are different
A trade association's books go wrong in the same recurring places.
A generalist sees membership dues and calls it a subscription. Your association runs a certification program with its own exam fees, sells exhibit booths to vendors at a conference that funds much of the year, and publishes technical materials members pay for separately. Miss that mix and nobody can tell which part of the association is actually paying for itself.
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1
Conference revenue swamps the rest of the year
A single annual conference can generate more revenue in one month than the rest of the year combined, and without separating it out, every other month looks artificially thin by comparison.
What we doKeeps conference revenue and costs in their own category, so the association can see how the conference performed on its own against the rest of the year's operations. -
2
Certification exam fees get mixed with membership dues
A certification program's exam and renewal fees are a different revenue stream from membership dues, often funding a specific program with its own costs, and lumped together, the association cannot tell if the certification program covers itself.
What we doKeeps certification program revenue and costs in their own category, so the program's finances are visible apart from general membership. -
3
Exhibit booth sales blur into conference registration
A vendor paying for exhibit space and a member paying to attend the conference are different kinds of income, and mixed together, it is hard to see how much of the conference's success comes from attendees versus exhibitors.
What we doKeeps exhibit booth revenue in its own line, separate from attendee registration fees. -
4
Publication and technical standards sales look like general dues
Sales of a technical manual, standards document, or subscription to a trade journal are their own product line, and if not tracked apart from dues, the association cannot tell whether publishing actually turns a profit.
What we doKeeps publication and technical standards sales in their own category, apart from membership dues. -
5
Committee and volunteer leader travel gets buried in general costs
Reimbursing committee chairs and volunteer leaders for travel to meetings is a real, ongoing cost of running an association through its members, and buried in general expenses, nobody can see what that governance structure actually costs.
What we doKeeps committee and volunteer leader travel in its own line, so the true cost of running the association through its members is visible.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a trade or industry association.
Set up once for how dues, certification, and conference revenue flow through the association. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Member duesAnnual dues from member companies or individuals.
- Certification program feesExam, renewal, and continuing education fees for the association's certification.
- Conference revenueAttendee registration for the annual conference or trade show.
- Exhibit booth revenueVendor payments for exhibit space at the conference.
- Publication and standards salesSales of technical manuals, standards documents, and trade journal subscriptions.
Money out
- Conference costsVenue, catering, and production costs for the annual conference.
- Certification program costsExam administration, proctoring, and continuing education tracking.
- Staff payrollExecutive director and administrative staff wages.
- Committee and volunteer leader travelReimbursements for committee chairs and board travel.
- Publications and printingProduction of technical manuals and the trade journal.
- Advocacy and lobbying costsCosts of representing the industry before lawmakers and regulators.
What we watch for you
- Conference net revenue
What the annual conference actually nets after venue and production costs.
- Certification program margin
Whether exam and renewal fees cover what it costs to run the certification program.
- Dues renewal rate
Whether member companies are renewing, tracked separately from new member sign-ups.
- Publication revenue
What technical manuals and the trade journal bring in against what they cost to produce.
Ask Gus
Things association staff ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
No. I keep conference revenue and costs in their own category, so it reads as what it is, a strong event, without making the other months look thin next to it.
I keep certification revenue and costs together in their own category, so you can see that answer directly instead of guessing from the total budget.
I keep committee and volunteer leader travel in its own line, so you can see what it actually costs to run the association through its members, not just as a stray expense.
The tax side
The tax side of running a trade or industry association.
Most of what matters here is keeping conference, certification, and publication revenue tracked separately and understanding a rule specific to trade groups.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Nondeductible lobbying portion of duesA share of an association's dues that goes toward lobbying activity is generally not deductible as a business expense to the member paying it, and the association often has to estimate and disclose that portion each year.
- Unrelated business income from publications and advertisingSteady sales of technical publications or advertising in a trade journal can sometimes create taxable income at the association level, separate from membership dues, worth the accountant's look as those revenue lines grow.
- Worker classification for exam proctors and event staffA certification exam proctor or conference staffer who works your schedule is often an employee, not a contractor, even for a short engagement tied to one event.
- Contractor 1099sA speaker, consultant, or conference vendor not on payroll who is paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
Deductions trade and industry associations miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Conference venue and production costs
- Certification exam administration
- Committee and volunteer travel
- Publication printing and design
- Advocacy and lobbying costs
- Website and member portal fees
- Liability insurance
- Office rent and utilities
- Trade show marketing materials
- Continuing education tracking software
- Bank and card processing fees
- Professional membership dues for staff
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A trade association's year, kept every month.
Dues, certification renewals, and the annual conference all run on their own calendars, and the books track every one of them. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Reconcile certification renewals
Last year's records are wrapped up, dues renewals and certification renewals are confirmed, and the contractor 1099 list is finalized.
- April
Certification year finalized
Whatever filing applies to the association's structure is ready to hand off, with dues, certification fees, and conference revenue already sorted for the year.
- July
Halfway to the conference
Where dues renewals and certification program revenue stand at the year's midpoint, ahead of the fall conference planning.
- October
Before the annual conference
Many associations hold their biggest event of the year in the fall. Gus looks at registration pace and exhibit booth sales before the final planning push.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for trade and industry associations. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions association staff ask first.
Can Gus tell us whether our certification program covers its own costs?
Yes. Certification revenue and costs are tracked together in their own category, so you can see the program's real margin instead of it blending into general dues.
Our conference generates most of our annual revenue in one month. Will that distort our books?
No. Conference revenue and costs are kept in their own category, so the event reads accurately and the rest of the year is not compared unfairly against it.
Does the lobbying portion of our dues need special handling?
Yes. The portion of dues tied to lobbying activity is generally not deductible to the member paying it, and the accountant works out that share each year so your association's disclosure to members is accurate.
Do you file our association's annual return with the IRS?
No, preparing that return is outside this subscription. Conference revenue, certification fees, and publication sales stay sorted all year, so whoever files on the association's behalf never has to reconstruct a full year of activity at once.
We sell a technical standards manual separately from membership. Does that need its own tracking?
Yes. Publication sales are kept in their own category, apart from dues, so you can see whether that product line is actually profitable.
Our books have not been reconciled since before last year's conference. Can you catch us up?
Yes. Send the bank and registration records you have. Gus works through the backlog and the accountant checks it, and most associations know where they stand within a couple of weeks.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever