[TriLUG] Upcoming vote on TriLUG non-profit status

[Aaron Joyner]

Forgive me Joseph, but I disagree.  The IRS is often painted as a very
difficult and dangerous organization, but in reality it's just not.
As long as you're not doing anything shady, they're really quite
helpful and friendly folks who, when it comes down to it, work for
you, the tax payer.  There's even an explicit offer of help for
charitable organizations such as ours, with a toll-free number and
mailing address:
http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=138838,00.html

I attempted to find any basis for your assertion that there is some
initial reporting requirement, but I can find none.  Would you please
cite your source?  The IRS doesn't mention anything about such a
requirement in the lifecycle of a public charity, nor does it
explicitly mention any years where a 990-N might not be sufficient.
This is one case where the legalese of the IRS is actually helpful.
They're very precise about noting that type of exception, and I would
expect to see it on this page, if it existed:
http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=169250,00.html

It sounds like we need to:
1) have someone from the "Pro" side volunteer to do the necessary
paperwork to setup the 501(c)(3)
2) have that person document the ongoing requirements that would be
imposed upon the SC
3) weigh the pros and cons with that information
4) put that to a vote at the meeting

matt at noway2.thruhere.net, would you be interested in tackling (1) and
(2) with the basics I laid out above, and writing up something
marginally more formal (such as a wiki doc)?  I'm glad to help vet the
plan myself, and will put out a feeler to see if I can find a pro bono
tax professional for a final audit, if necessary.

Aaron S. Joyner



On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 10:45 AM, Joseph Mack NA3T <jmack at wm7d.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Feb 2011, Aaron Joyner wrote:
>
>> The process for setting up the 501(c)(3)exception is relatively straight
>> forward, I believe just one form 1023, and an application fee of $400
>> (assuming we do less than $10k of receipts in a year):
>> http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=96109,00.html
>
> When I looked into it, there were a couple of years on training wheels when
> you had to submit enough documentation to show that you were following the
> rules for a 501(c)(3). After probation, the requirements dropped
> significantly.
>
>> To me, it seems like a few hours of work by one member of the SC, or even
>> a regular TriLUG member with good reading comprehension skills,
>
> it's not just comprehension, it's comprehension of legalese. Few can do
> this, if the number of people who have someone else file their taxes is any
> indication (it's about 70%). I don't do my own taxes anymore.
>
> I expect if someone can setup the framework (eg a wiki) to follow, then
> almost anyone can maintain it. So maybe the problem is setting up the
> framework.
>
> Joe
>
> --
> Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
> jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
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