SGOGuide
Trust & Audit-Readiness

Built for the audit you hope never comes

Every SGO eventually answers to someone — a state regulator, an IRS examiner, a skeptical board member. ClearPath is engineered so the answer is a download, not a scramble: every record provable, every decision documented, every dollar reconciled.

Tamper-evident records

Every action hash-chained into an audit log the platform can cryptographically verify.

One-click evidence

A complete, date-ranged audit package — generated in seconds, not assembled over weeks.

Arm's-length by design

Anonymized board voting, conflict recusal, and reproducible lotteries enforced in software.

Penny-accurate money

Every deposit reconciled, every refund clawed back, every duplicate payment blocked.

The Evidence Package

When the examiner asks, the answer is a button

Most organizations respond to a compliance inquiry by assembling spreadsheets, searching inboxes, and reconstructing decisions from memory. ClearPath maintains the evidence continuously. Pick a date range; the platform produces a complete bundle:

  • Every donation with its tax credit receipt and cap accounting
  • Every award with the board votes and e-signed resolutions behind it
  • Every disbursement with its expense verification trail
  • The 90/10 worksheet, computed from the same records
  • Methodology and policy versions in effect during the period
  • A cryptographic integrity attestation over the entire record

The same package that answers a regulator also briefs your board and reassures a major donor. One source of truth, three audiences.

Audit Evidence Package
Jan 1 – Jun 30
Donations & tax credit receipts
Included
Awards · board votes & resolutions
Included
Disbursements & expense verification
Included
90/10 worksheet
Included
Methodology & policy versions
Included
Audit log integrity checkChain verified ✓

12,847 hash-chained entries · no alterations detected

Download evidence package (PDF)

The tamper-evident audit log

Underneath the evidence package sits a hash-chained audit log: every entry includes a cryptographic fingerprint of the entry before it. Edit or delete any record — even with database access — and the chain breaks visibly.

The platform verifies the full chain on demand and includes the verification result in every evidence package. You aren’t asking an auditor to trust your records. You’re handing them the proof.

Governance & Arm’s-Length Controls

Independence you can demonstrate, not just claim

Section 25F’s no-earmarking rule requires award decisions that are genuinely independent of donors — a hard problem in the tight-knit communities most likely to run SGOs. ClearPath makes independence structural: the software enforces what policy documents can only request.

Anonymized board voting

Board members vote on applicant pools with names, schools, and donor information stripped. Approve, deny, or abstain — each vote e-signed and permanently attached to the award record.

Conflict-of-interest enforcement

Annual e-signed COI disclosures from every board member. When a disclosed relationship touches a vote, recusal is automatic — not an honor-system footnote in the minutes.

Dual-control disbursements

Above your threshold, no single person can move money. Disbursements enter a pending state until a second, distinct approver signs off — segregation of duties enforced by the platform.

Reproducible lottery

When demand exceeds funds, the lottery ranking derives from a published seed — any auditor can re-run it and get the identical result. Fairness you can prove, not just assert.

Resolutions & minutes vault

Board resolutions are drafted, e-signed, versioned, and linked to the awards they authorize. The governance paper trail assembles itself as the board works.

Methodology vault

Every compliance judgment call — AMI data sources, qualified-expense interpretations, geographic calibrations — recorded with rationale and effective dates, versioned over time.

Board Portal
Anonymized

Applicants are shown without names or schools. Member J.R. recused — disclosed relationship to applicant pool.

Applicant #2041 · $4,200
Approved 5–0
Applicant #2087 · $3,800
Approved 4–1
Applicant #2113 · $4,000
Voting open
Resolution 2027-014 · e-signed5 of 5 signatures ✓

The board portal: anonymized pools, automatic recusal, e-signed resolutions.

Financial Integrity

Built like financial software, because it is financial software

An SGO moves real money under federal scrutiny, where a bookkeeping error can cost a donor their tax credit. ClearPath treats every dollar with the discipline of a payments company — because anything less eventually shows up in an audit.

Payout reconciliation

Every bank deposit is matched against processor settlements automatically. Unreconciled deposits are flagged the day they land — not discovered at year-end.

Automatic credit clawback

Refunds and chargebacks void the original tax credit receipt and reverse the credited amount, so donor filings and your books never drift apart.

Duplicate-payment protection

Idempotency enforced at the database level — a retried webhook or double-clicked button can never record the same donation twice.

Fraud screening

Duplicate students, shared addresses and bank accounts, donor-applicant relationships, and anomalous card spending are surfaced for review automatically.

Integrity constraints in the database

Non-negative amounts, credit-eligible ceilings, and household rules are enforced by the database itself — invalid records are impossible to write, not merely discouraged.

Fund accounting & over-award prevention

Restricted and unrestricted funds tracked separately, with an awardable-cash forecast that blocks commitments your balance can't cover.

Data Privacy

You hold families’ most sensitive records. We treat them that way.

Income documents, education records, household details — an SGO holds data most nonprofits never touch. The platform’s privacy posture is built for it.

FERPA consent, captured properly

Family education records are gated behind explicit, e-signed FERPA consent collected in the application flow — not a checkbox buried in terms.

Anonymization where it matters

Board members never see applicant identities. Public recognition is strictly opt-in. Scholarship impact reporting is anonymized by default.

Retention enforced, not promised

Records are kept for the federally required seven years and deletion requests are honored on schedule — with the request itself logged for accountability.

PII never leaks into logs

Production logging scrubs SSNs, bank details, and credentials automatically. Observability without exposure.

Taking this to a board meeting? Bring the demo instead of a memo — we’ll generate a live evidence package and walk your board through exactly what a regulator would see.

Get a Demo →
Get Started

See the platform live. Then decide.

Tell us about your organization and we’ll set up a live demo — the real product, loaded with sample data — alongside a consultation on your formation path, state, and timeline.

What happens next

1

We review your submission and respond within one business day

2

Live platform demo — the actual product on sample data, typically 45–60 minutes

3

Diagnostic consultation on your formation path, state requirements, and timeline

4

You leave with a clear scope and recommendation — even if the answer is to partner rather than form

We typically respond within one business day.