On Friday 27 December 2002 05:46 pm, Brian Chee wrote: > far out...I did the non-profit educationally oriented corporation MANY > years ago for the Hawaii Netware Users Group (HINUG) but alas, interest in > Netware waned and the group died. However the tax exempt status was > great....however there were a couple gotchas that I'd like to pass on.
I love Novell. Well done with that initiative. Well done. > > 1. You MUST run at least 1 general meeting a year and it must be run by > something like Robert's Rules of Order. > 2. At that general meeting, two things MUST happen: > a. An advisory board of directors must be voted upon and the > installed after voting > b. A rollover resolution for funds obtained but not spent in the > past fiscal year, be rolled over to the next fiscal year to help fund > overall long term goals of the organization. > 3. The minutes of this meeting must be published or be available for > public inspection. > > If you can do all three, then it works and donations are legal....if you > don't....then the IRS will have a conversation with you. Many thanks for the tips. I will have to do more reading. The application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status does not depend upon by-laws defining any organizational structure. I did not see anything about funds rollover. We are applying for this as a volunteer based charitable organization, so perhaps some of the requirements are different. Now that you have said this, I am definitely going to scour the "man" pages to be sure that I am not overlooking anything. > > Oh yeah...I made the suggestion about donating to UH since this issue came > up now....that way the donation can be made and whoever can get a donation > letter this tax year. However, having said that, I am FULLY in support of > the group getting non-profit status and yes ALL the donations should go to > the group. However, I would still suggest that donations that will > eventually go to a school, be donated directly to said school. If you're a > class-c corporation and the gear is two years old or less...there is a > special tax credit if it goes to a K-12 educational institution. You are a good man to offer the immense resources of UH. Something that I discovered and posted to the list a little bit ago was the fact that an organization such as ours, which is already a legal, charitable non-profit, can legally accept donations. Our application for tax-free status only has to be made if we collect more than $5000 in a year of operation. While I have gone ahead and applied for the 501(c)(3) tax-exemption status, we can legally donate to ourselves this year. I can write you a letter. I certainly intend to deduct the few expenses that I have incurred in the incorporation steps. HOSEF PO Box 392 Kailua, HI 96734 808.230.8845 scott
