Quote:
Originally Posted by MrBasse
Specifically - "5. Materials and equipment purchased by student activity funds become District property. "
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My team, the "Kell Robotics Team" is administratively a
school club. Historically the money came into the school as a club contribution, school accounting handled the money, and the property became the schools. The money is
school activity funds.
All of that has changed. We recently created a 501(c)3 non-profit public interest corporation, the Kell Robotics Foundation.
501(c)3 corporations can be public, or private. We are public.
Public 501(c)3 corporations can be a
1) a booster type of thing, where most money comes from fundraising, club dues, modest contributions, typical examples are sports and band boosters.
2) a public charity, where most money comes from outside donations. A good example of this is FIRST.
Most boosters are type (1) and provide single-entity support. In other words if the boosted club ceases existence, then the booster is no longer needed.
We elected to do type (2) multi-entity support organization because much of the work we do goes outside of our team and impacts teams all across the region. This gives us the legal latitude to spend money on other teams as part of our outreach. If the Kell Robotics Team (club) ceased to exist at school, the Kell Robotics Foundation and the Kell Robotics Innovation Center can exist in perpetuity, and the Kell Robotics Team could continue to exist as a non-school entity if there was demand.
It is a hedge against this type of action described in the OP. It gives the foundation ownership of the equipment.
It allows the foundation to bequeath the assets to FIRST, or GeorgiaFIRST, or their designee. Meaning if the foundation closed the doors the equipment goes to other FIRST teams and not locked into a warehouse like you see in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
And the foundation can often get to a broader range of funding than a school can.
Having said all of that, the best option is for the school to fully embrace the team and fund it. The 2nd best option is for the school to at least celebrate the team and let it self fund.
I'm not crazy about every team going and creating a 501(c)3 but it is done by most sports, and fine arts clubs at schools everywhere so there you go.
But I would take special note as to how it is filed in the IRS 1023 Part X.
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