recording cost of major leasehold property repair (non-profit)

It depends.  Best place to consult on what is a repair expense or a capital improvement outside of your own CPA is the IRS.  It helps to have an internal procedure and threshold to use. https://nonprofitaccountingacademy.com/capitalize-or-expense-building-improvements/

If the parking lot will need such repairs every 10 years then it probably could qualify as an expense but if this extends it's life for 30 years with minimal rework every 2-5 years or so (sealing and crack filling) then it probably is a fixed asset leasehold improvement that would have to be amortized over the life of the class it falls in.

Here is some more free information from an outfit called parking.org  https://www.parking.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/TPP-2013-11-Tangible-Personal-Property-Regulation...

they may know a thing or two related to parking lots. In particular look at the 10 year timeline they present (as I did above when shooting from the hip)

Thank you.  My conflict stems from the fact that we, the non-profit food bank, are not the owners, we are the tenants.    If we owned this property it would be easy for me to record this as a capital improvement.   This repair isn't to customize this property for our specific needs (ie:  leasehold improvement) but to fix it and make it safely usable, period.  (a sinkhole-type depression has opened up where we park our food truck).

It's possible that the food truck caused the damage to the parking lot.

Does your answer still apply in this case?