New team needs help with IRS forms

[ronmarkum]

Team 1750 is a new team this year targeting home schooled and small community public school students. Since we are independent of any particular school system we need to set up a 501-c status with the IRS so that contributions and donations will be tax deductible. The IRS requires several documents such as "Articles of Association," a Constitution, a Narrative of Organizational Purpose, ect. Do you know of a team that has gone through this process and produced these documents? If we had a template to go by it would save us having to "reinvent the wheel."

Thanks
Ron Markum
Lead Mentor
ThunderStorm Robotics 1750
ronmarkum@ronmarkum.com

[Ryan M.]

Our team is very similar to yours, and had to go through this our first year. I'll ask the people in charge of that and try to get some help for you.

[Alexander McGee]

Our team is much like this, where there is not one dedicated High School.

Before you decide to pursue the 501c status, keep in mind that the process takes over 6 months.

If you still want to pursue it, there are several forms that you have to fill out. Start by contacting your local federal and state facilities for the appropriate paperwork.

However, I would strongly recommend trying to tie into a school of one form or another. Universities work too (keep that in mind), so if you have college mentors, that is an opportunity. Also consider drawing from multiple schools who do not have teams; there are always one or two students at every high school who would love to be a part of a FIRST team.

Feel free to email me with more specifics about the 501c3.

Thanks and good luck!

-Alexander S. McGee

[ronmarkum]

Originally Posted by Ryan M.

Our team is very similar to yours, and had to go through this our first year. I'll ask the people in charge of that and try to get some help for you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your help.

[ronmarkum]

[quote=Alexander McGee]Our team is much like this, where there is not one dedicated High School.

Before you decide to pursue the 501c status, keep in mind that the process takes over 6 months.

We have an accountant helping us with the process. All of the IRS forms are already completed and we are working on the extra documentation they require. It is a long process that is why we want to get it done as soon as possible so we won't have to deal with it next season. Thanks for you help!

Ron

[JudyVandy]

MOE, team 365, has been through the process. They have a lot of good information on their site about it.

Mr. Moe, one of their mentors, is on Chief Delphi a lot. Try e-mailing him and he'd probably be a great source of information for you.

[Carol]

Originally Posted by JudyVandy

MOE, team 365, has been through the process. They have a lot of good information on their site about it.

Mr. Moe, one of their mentors, is on Chief Delphi a lot. Try e-mailing him and he'd probably be a great source of information for you.

Mr. MOE got your email and passed it on to those of us who worked on our 501c3 designation. I'll send you a separate email, but I had described the process last year in this post:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...5&postcount=22

Basically, you have to become a non-profit organization first, then get the 501c3 status. All this varies by state, and we got all the forms needed off of the state and the IRS website. You need to set up by-laws, financial statements, and officers. Which really was easier than it sounded at first.

Good luck! Becoming 501c3 has helped us quite a bit with fund-raising and was worth the time and effort.

[ronmarkum]

Thanks for all the help.

Ron