The Community Benefit Combo Pack is the go-to kit for nonprofit community benefit, whether you are just getting started or have been in the field a while. It includes all four Community Benefit resources at a discounted price. 

• A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit (2025 Update)
• Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs: A summary of New Requirements and Recommended Practices
• Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs (2015 Edition)  
• Evaluating Your Community Benefit Impact (2015 Edition)

A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit (2025 Update)

Updated in 2025, CHA's A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit provides a comprehensive framework for nonprofit health care organizations to develop and strengthen their strategic approach to assessing. planning, implementing and reporting community benefit.

This resource includes guidance on meeting federal requirements for tax-exempt hospitals to conduct community health needs assessments and adopt implementation strategies to meet identified needs. The Guide also includes guidelines for reporting on the IRS Form 990, Schedule H as well as valuable information from community benefit and public health professionals about leading practices in community health improvement.

The Guide is organized around the basic components in community benefit planning, implementation, and reporting:

• Getting Started
• Understanding What Counts and Does Not Count as Community Benefit
• Building a Sustainable Infrastructure
• Accounting for Community Benefit
• Assessing Health Needs and Implementing Community Benefit Programs
• Evaluating Community Benefit Programs
• Communicating the Community Benefit Story

The Guide has numerous links to additional tools, examples and resources that can be accessed on the CHA website.

Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs: A Summary of New Requirements and Recommended Practices

This booklet provides a concise overview of federal requirements for tax-exempt hospitals to conduct community health needs assessments and develop implementation strategies to address identified needs. It can be used to educate internal and external groups that play a vital role in supporting the hospital's assessment and community health improvement planning efforts, such as hospital trustees, finance and marketing staff, local health departments, and social service organizations. A supplemental resource to Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs. This resource has been updated to reflect IRS final rules issued on December 31, 2014, and IRC 501(r)(3).

Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs (2015 Edition)

Responding to the health needs of our communities, particularly those of the most vulnerable among us, is central to the mission of Catholic and other not-for-profit health care organizations. To improve the health of our communities, we need to have a clear understanding of community health needs and employ a deliberate approach to addressing those needs.

This toolkit offers practical guidance on how hospitals can collaborate with community and public health partners to conduct a community health needs assessment and develop effective implementation strategies for enhancing health in their communities.

This resource was developed for the hospital staff responsible for conducting or overseeing community health needs assessments and planning community benefit programs. It is also useful to other staff, community partners, policy makers, consumer advocates, and public officials working in or interested in community health.

Tax-exempt hospitals are required to conduct community health needs assessments and adopt implementation strategies to meet the community health needs identified through the assessments at least every three years. This requirement is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act), enacted March 23, 2010. This resource

reflects IRS final rules issued on December 31, 2014, IRC 501(r)(3).

Evaluating Your Community Benefit Impact

It is essential to evaluate community benefit programs for improvement and to understand the effectiveness of actions taken to address significant health needs in the community.

Community benefit program evaluation is important for compliance reasons as well. The Affordable Care Act added requirements for tax-exempt hospitals to assess the health needs of their communities every three years. The federal regulations implementing those requirements specify that hospitals need to include in their community health needs assessment (CHNA) reports an evaluation of the impact of actions taken to address the significant health needs from their immediately preceding CHNA report (Treas. Reg. § 1.501(r)-3). The intent of these requirements is to increase transparency and accountability around tax-exempt hospitals' obligation to improve community health.

This toolkit is designed to help community benefit leaders take a systematic approach to evaluating and improving their programs, while also meeting their legal requirements by applying the knowledge and experience of public health program evaluation to community benefit programs.

This resource was developed for staff members who work in the area of community benefit. It is useful to all who need to understand how to evaluate community health programs and use evaluation findings in their work, including other hospital staff (i.e., trustees, executive leaders, strategy, population health, finance and communications staff), community partners, and program participants.