Re: GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status
On 2015-05-27 13:33, j...@joshtriplett.org wrote: On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 05:32:27PM +0100, Magdalen Berns wrote: With that said, at the moment we are technically “delinquent so we have lost our tax exempt status for not submitting required 990 forms.[4,5] Assuming that has been a mistake and that we do actually want to benefit from 501(c)(3) status, then I think we would be obliged to sort all that out and just stick to the original mission of the GNOME Foundation which essentially allows us to continue to do things like produce useful free software and educate people all about it. I've seen this mentioned previously on this list as well, and I'm curious how that happened. I would also suggest that this should be the top priority issue for the GNOME Foundation to fix. Is the current Board already working to fix this? A quick search shows GNOME is still listed on the IRS website as being in good standing: http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/pub78Search.do?ein1=names=GNOMEcity=state=All...country=USdeductibility=alldispatchMethod=searchCharitiessubmitName=Search (actually I think you'll need to redo your own search) and in CA I see we are listed as active http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/ We were delinquent with CA a few years ago when I started as ED I believe but we straightened that out. Rosanna should check on our current filing status but often our accountants file extensions on the 990s. karen ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status
I've seen this mentioned previously on this list as well, and I'm curious how that happened. There is an interesting blog about these things which is worth a read (seems a little like some rule tightening has gone on and perhaps caught a few organisations unaware, but it's hard to say what's happened at this stage).[1] I would also suggest that this should be the top priority issue for the GNOME Foundation to fix. Likewise. Is the current Board already working to fix this? A quick search shows GNOME is still listed on the IRS website as being in good standing: http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/pub78Search.do?ein1=names=GNOMEcity=state=All...country=USdeductibility=alldispatchMethod=searchCharitiessubmitName=Search (actually I think you'll need to redo your own search) Unfortunately, it is delinquent according to the California Department of Justice (you may need to redo your own search to get it to come up there too).[2,3] It might be worth getting in touch with them directly about this because according to the Department of Justice, they have not received copies of the IRS Form 990 for the fiscal years ending 9/30/2009, 9/30/2011, 9/30/2012 and 9/30/2013 and the Annual Registration Renewal Fee Report (RRF-1) and IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ending 9/30/2014 were due on February 15, 2015, as well. Magdalen [1] https://blogs.gnome.org/jnelson/2014/06/30/the-new-501c3-and-the-future-of-free-software-in-the-united-states [2] http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Details.aspx?agency_id=1license_id=1043846; [3] http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Search.aspx?facility=Y ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status
I advise those who wish to follow 501(c)(3) status of Free Software related orgs to check this repository [0] that community members maintain. It includes a copy of the IRS revocation notice file [1] and the IRS in good standing list [2] (which you can also get from the IRS website directly). I was able to verify that GNOME Foundation was in good standing with the IRS as of *today* at 09:51 UTC with the following commands: $ wget -N http://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/data-download-pub78.zip $ unzip data-download-pub78.zip $ egrep -i 'GNOME *Foundation' data-download-pub78.txt 043572618|Gnome Foundation Inc.|Boston|MA|United States|PC $ env TZ=UTC /bin/ls -l data-download-pub78.zip -rw--- 1 bkuhn bkuhn 19044058 May 27 09:51 data-download-pub78.zip You can do similar with our Git repository as follows: $ git clone https://gitorious.org/floss-foundations/npo-public-filings.git $ cd npo-public-filings $ egrep -i 'GNOME *Foundation' IRS-501c3-Database/irs-qualified-c3-list.txt $ git log -1 IRS-501c3-Database/irs-qualified-c3-list.txt *And* you can also use our Git repository's history to show that GNOME Foundation never had its status revoked historically -- keeping track of such potential incidents for any non-profit is why we download those files each month. Thus, this command can confirm for you: $ git log IRS-501c3-Database/irs-revoked-c3-list.txt|grep -i GNOME that while the GNOME Hollow Widlife and METROGNOME Collective have had some IRS status troubles, GNOME Foundation has had no such trouble. Perhaps you heard about the (c)(3) status revocation of one of those orgs and got confused? Anyway, accusing a charity of losing its 501(c)(3) status is tantamount to accusing people of losing their driver's licenses due to driving poorly. In this case, given how trivially easy it is to test the veracity of the claim, it's particularly unfortunate that you would make such accusations so carelessly. [0] https://www.gitorious.org/floss-foundations/npo-public-filings/source/master: (It's on gitorious now, but we're franticly looking for a place to move it since gitorious dies this month) [1] http://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/data-download-revocation.zip [2] http://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/data-download-pub78.zip -- -- bkuhn ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status
On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 11:07:37AM -0700, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote: I advise those who wish to follow 501(c)(3) status of Free Software related orgs to check this repository [0] that community members maintain. It includes a copy of the IRS revocation notice file [1] and the IRS in good standing list [2] (which you can also get from the IRS website directly). I was able to verify that GNOME Foundation was in good standing with the IRS as of *today* at 09:51 UTC with the following commands: $ wget -N http://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/data-download-pub78.zip $ unzip data-download-pub78.zip $ egrep -i 'GNOME *Foundation' data-download-pub78.txt 043572618|Gnome Foundation Inc.|Boston|MA|United States|PC $ env TZ=UTC /bin/ls -l data-download-pub78.zip -rw--- 1 bkuhn bkuhn 19044058 May 27 09:51 data-download-pub78.zip You can do similar with our Git repository as follows: $ git clone https://gitorious.org/floss-foundations/npo-public-filings.git $ cd npo-public-filings $ egrep -i 'GNOME *Foundation' IRS-501c3-Database/irs-qualified-c3-list.txt $ git log -1 IRS-501c3-Database/irs-qualified-c3-list.txt *And* you can also use our Git repository's history to show that GNOME Foundation never had its status revoked historically -- keeping track of such potential incidents for any non-profit is why we download those files each month. Thus, this command can confirm for you: $ git log IRS-501c3-Database/irs-revoked-c3-list.txt|grep -i GNOME Keeping that information in a git repository is really handy; thanks! Have you considered posting about this repository and its purpose more widely, such as on LWN or similar, to make more people aware of it? And thanks for the confirmation about GNOME's status. [0] https://www.gitorious.org/floss-foundations/npo-public-filings/source/master: (It's on gitorious now, but we're franticly looking for a place to move it since gitorious dies this month) You might consider talking to the Sunlight Foundation or similar, who track other information like this, including on a historical basis. I've CCed Paul Tagliamonte of the Sunlight Foundation (also of OSI and Debian), who might be able to help here. - Josh Triplett ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status
Hi Josh, And thanks for the confirmation about GNOME's status. I doubt the information from California Department of justice is inaccurate, but if that is the case it would be wise for us to address that with them. What I suspect is more likely to have happened is what Karen has suggested could have happened: that the accountant filed for an extension and the CDJ are honouring it. Magdalen ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status
On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 05:32:27PM +0100, Magdalen Berns wrote: With that said, at the moment we are technically “delinquent so we have lost our tax exempt status for not submitting required 990 forms.[4,5] Assuming that has been a mistake and that we do actually want to benefit from 501(c)(3) status, then I think we would be obliged to sort all that out and just stick to the original mission of the GNOME Foundation which essentially allows us to continue to do things like produce useful free software and educate people all about it. I've seen this mentioned previously on this list as well, and I'm curious how that happened. I would also suggest that this should be the top priority issue for the GNOME Foundation to fix. Is the current Board already working to fix this? - Josh Triplett ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
