We were able to serve 3 families this Thanksgiving! Not pictured above were 3 10lb bags of potatoes that I still had in my trunk. =)
Donations came in very quickly after I posted, which of course got me all excited to re-tackle some of our fundraising issues. I noticed that our last optional registration with the Charities division of the the Secretary of State had not gone through, so I started to do some digging. Turned out that since we were no longer legally considered a Non-Profit Corporation, we were required to file for a new EIN under our new organizational classification as an Unorganized Association. We are still a charitable organization, just not an incorporated one. Corporations require a board of directors, which we used to have...but after Carol's death, things came up for each of us, and it is mostly just me now. Sooo, tried to file for the new EIN online, but received an error message. So I called the IRS (scary, right??), but got this really helpful guy whose name I, of course, forgot. He told me to print out the app and fax it in, and also told me what all to put down to solve the problem I was encountering. I have to apply as a new organization under the same name as an expired org...due to an organizational structure change. He told me I should also include a second page explaining the situation and listing OSH's previous EIN, in order to help the person processing the app. Yes...I already have a headache. lol But everything is ready to fax off. I tried today, hoping that the fax machine at the IRS would somehow still magically receive faxes during off hours...but no such luck. I will try again on Monday. =) I also found out that just a few months ago, the IRS dropped the fee to apply for that wonderful little piece of paper that declares our tax status to the world: the 501(c)(3). Of course, we're already automatically tax-exempt, due to our income being less than $5000 a year. But all grocery stores and other companies require that 501(c)(3) status in order to make any kind of a donation. It was $400. A bit out of reach for these last 6 years that we've been operating. But now, it has dropped to $275! I am really considering starting a Gofundme page after the first of the year to raise the funds. But I'm still unsure about going that route. Even if I have to save it up myself tho...it shouldn't take more than a few months. One way or the other we will finally get to that next step!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNikki Thurston Archives
November 2023
Categories |