Big Big Problem

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by sciguy125

You may want to be careful about that. If they are buying something, it's no longer a donation. People may be less willing to give if they don't get the tax breaks that come with a donation.

If they are not a 501(c)(3) it may not matter. Oh sure for you and me as far as we are concerned, it is a donation to a school club, but for some companies, a donation is base for some kind of kick back (re: tax break or writeoff) for a donation.

But the way Uncle Sam and the IRS see it is a totally different ball game.
your T's have to be crossed, and your i's dotted.

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

If they are not a 501(c)(3) it may not matter.

Well, I'm fairly sure our school is a 501(c)(3). The fact that our moderator was giving out tax exemption forms drives that suspicion home for me.

My understanding of the law is that nearly all schools qualify for 501(c)(3). However, I guess you also have to file paperwork to benefit from it. Is all that correct? If so, is there any reason a school wouldn't want to be a 501(c)(3)?

If your team is a separate organization, I could see why there could be some problems. It seems, however, that 19 is part of their school.

[mechanicalbrain]

623 is listed as a booster club and a nonprofit organization. It also helps in terms of getting donations since sponcers can take all the money they give you as a tax write off.

[Ronald_raygun]

mechanicalbrain
When was your team inforporated as a non-profit?

Everyone else
What is a 501(c)(3)?

As for the companies, you're right...depends on their size and willingness to be a philanthropist.

[Ronald_raygun]

Well, we have great news. We were granted a limited exception. Now I can start our fundraising campaign.

[Gdeaver]

After you get all that fund raising money, who holds it and controls it? Beware that school districts like to get a hold of it and control it. It usually ends up in the general building fund and has been known to disappear. If the school district insists on controlling all funds, You can sort of protect your efforts by having donors buy specific materials. Some companies much prefer to pay a specific invoice.

[dubious elise]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

After you get all that fund raising money, who holds it and controls it? Beware that school districts like to get a hold of it and control it. It usually ends up in the general building fund and has been known to disappear. If the school district insists on controlling all funds, You can sort of protect your efforts by having donors buy specific materials. Some companies much prefer to pay a specific invoice.

Agreed.

This comes into play especially when booking transportation and/or hotel reservations. We simply removed our funds from the so-dubbed "school account" and we now have mentors manage an account for us. It is much more reliable for our purposes.

Obviously, this is not the only answer and all school districts are run differently. As always, be sure to look into other options before making a choice.

[ThunderChief]

Team 980 - ThunderBots has a checking account named "Friends of FIRST Team 980" that is controlled by 2 mentors. This receives T-shirt sales, sponsorships, raffle ticket sales ($5 for a Roomba vacuum cleaner).

But for donations we have a 501-C-3 "Donor Advaised Foundation" called "Lightning Edcational Foundation" that was quickly and easily set up under the National Heritage Foundation. People make checks payable to the "Lightning Edcational Foundation" which are sent to the National Heritage Foundation for deposit. National Heritage Foundation does the paperwork of sending out the donation confirmation letters for a 2 1/2 % fee. Then the Team applies for a grant to pay our big expenses like FIRST registrations, air fares and hotel. They either send a check to FIRST, etc. or to "Friends of FIRST Team 980" to reimburse payments already made.

[CJO]

We had a similar ban on fundraising. However, we convinced the school (rightly enough) that we should be allowed to seek out mentors, after all that is the point of FIRST. We would then ask (or be invited) to give presentations at various companies about the programs, and would include some pointed comments about our budget -- not actually solicit -- but include a slide like "100% of our funds come from donations, 10% from parents, 12% from company A, the rest, TBA," that and a few pointed comments usually gets companies to "offer" to give us an "unsolicited" donation. So the school takes their cut and we get the rest.