[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Qbot2640

Not so. There is an electronic application for smaller organizations (under $50000 income per year) that costs only $400, and we had our approval in one week (to the day).

Do you still have to deal with Annual audits and tax filings?

We formed a Non-Profit with the State of Ohio when we lost our space at the school. This was fairly easy. We were beginning to work on our 501(c)(3) paperwork when we met with the Community Foundation in our area. After meeting with them we decided to create a Fund under their organization. Reimbursements and payments are really easy. They aren't able to do PO's (Purchase Orders), but that's probably specific to them. They do charge a 2% annual fee for administration charges. Cutting checks, processing deposits, handling the tax's and audits. For a group of engineers this was worth it. Plus our account earns interest and typically we earn enough to cover the annual fee.

We also still carry an account at the school in which we use to collect student travel fees and pay for charter bus and hotels. We found that we had sponsors that preferred to donate to the school and sponsors who preferred to donate outside of the school. So having both accounts maximizes our opportunities to receive donations and grants.