Non-profits and managing money.

FIRST General Forum
1

Hey,

I’m a mentor for an FTC team. This year we have separated from the school in the town. In previous years all of our money from sponsors was managed through the school. Now that we are no longer associated with the school we need a way to manage our money. Also, we need to be able to be a non-profit for our sponsors can get their tax cuts.

I was wondering how teams that are not associated with a high school manage their money. Are you considered non-profits or 4-h clubs? If so, how did you go about filing the paper work for it?

Thanks!

2

4-H is the way to go. Rhode Rage is organized under RI 4-H. Non-profit status, great structure, and goals aligned with FIRST. I can put you in contact with the leaders of RI 4-H.

3

Team Overdrive (FRC 2753) formed a 501©(3) non-profit educational organization three years ago to start our FTC (then FVC) program. It has worked wonderfully. As a group of home educated students. we recognized the need to have an IRS recognized organization to solicit funds from industry – the 501©(3) is the key. 4-H is also a good route. However, if you want autonomy, a 501©(3) is best.

See IRS publication 555 to get started.

You can visit our non-profit website at www.teen-technology.org.

We have links to our FRC 2753 Team Overdrive and Power Surge (FTC).

We are Rookies this year in FRC.

4

Actually, it’s publication 557

5

There is one other organization that you can be part of without the expense of forming your own 501©(3) – the Explorers. Part of the Learning for Life organization, Engineering Explorers is an educational organization intended to provide opportunities for learning about career opportunities in STEM. http://www.learningforlife.org/exploring/engineering/index.html

I don’t know anything about 4H, so I can’t compare to that, but the Explorer program provides some real benefits to someone starting a robotics team. First, all your adult volunteers will register with Learning for Life and go through a formal criminal background check. I view this as a way to reduce my personal risk of allowing an inappropriate volunteer work with youth. Second, they carry liability insurance that protects leaders during Explorer Post events. Third, they offer Youth Protection training to adult leaders. If you create your own 501©(3) you will need to handle these things on your own. I wouldn’t consider being a volunteer for a youth organization that had no liability and risk coverage for adult volunteers.

The only real downside to the Explorers program is that it requires you to be aligned with at least one corporation or government agency which “charters” the post. In our case, our corporate liaison is also our post advisor. We pay about $10 per person per year to be a Post.

Our local Exploring office would handle our finances for us (they are a 501©(3)), but we are lucky enough to also be an affiliate member of the Seattle Robotics Association, which is a 501©(3) that handles the finances for a few robotics teams in the area.

Whichever route you take, good luck and have fun.

6

Being a 4-H team is very similar to the Explorers. We are covered for libibility under the county 4-H and all our voluteers are fingerprinted and background checks also through 4-H. We have 501 C 3 status as well, through 4-H. We pay 1.00 per person per year for extra medical insurance for everyone in the club. We dont pay any kind of dues to the county but the team has a set yearly dues. We are also elibible for 4-H scholarships as well as FIRST ones. We have our own checking account so we don’t have to wait for monies to clear the county account.

I really love being a 4-H club. We enjoy all the perks and none of the hassle. We can promote 4-H and FIRST together because their goals are so similar. We particpate in both programs…its fun to see the robots in the 4-H building at the fair with all the agriculture things!

7

1729 is also a 4-H club, administered under UNH. Like Exploding bacon, our liability, 503 © 3 non-profit status and background checks are handled through 4-H.

We’re currently eligible for 4-H and FIRST scholarships, and we are plan on looking into UNH specific scholarships.

We don’t pay dues to 4-H, but we do attend their presentations and we do volunteer to help with their ‘get togethers’. This gives us both a community outreach and allows us to help those helping us. Even before we got our official team number, we were demonstrating FIRST at the local 4-H fair (we actually build a ‘stone soup’ robot at the fair) and we’ll probably expand those activities in this coming year.

All in all, 4-H and FIRST are an excellent fit and 4-Hs new technology push only makes it better.

8

Thanks guys. We’re pretty sure we will be going the 4-H route. I’m currently doing some research. I do have a question about your bank accounts, if you are a 4-H club.

Are your bank accounts through 4-H, or do you have a private account at your local bank that the mentors can get to?

Thanks.

9

We have a private account.

10

Bacon also has a private account. We are required to audit the accounts through 4-H and file paper work. But its not TOO horrible if you stay on top of things.