Setting up a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Team

FIRST General Forum
1

We are working toward setting up our team as a formal non-profit. We have completed the state process and are now a legal non-profit in the state but are now needing to work on our IRS 501©(3) filing. We have the example 501©(3) forms from MOE but they are a little old now and the IRS forms are a bit more involved these days.

Would anyone from a team that has more recently filed and obtained IRS 501©(3) status for their team be willing to share a copy of their form with us to use as an example?

Also, we are looking for a good bank to use for the new non-profit. Our finances have always been handled by the school we have historically been associated with but we are working toward “breaking away” from being only associated with that one school. We want to open the team up to all the other schools in the area thus we are going to need a bank account for the new non-profit team.

So, can anyone recommend a good bank for a small non-profit like an FRC team? We would, of course, like something with minimal cost, no minimum balance/deposits, free checking, etc. Being able to get some sort of debit/check card so we could buy stuff during build season online with all that fundraising money we are going to be depositing would be helpful. There are so many banks out there and with all the new banking regulations these days it is a little daunting for us trying to find a good bank willing to work with a little start-up non-profit FRC team. We are open to online banks but just don’t know which are good ones and which to stay away from. If anyone has any recommendations on banks their team uses and likes please let me know.

Finally, any other help or advice from those of you that have already been down this road recently can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

2

I’ll send you a PM with a link to 2052’s IRS application from last year.

As for banks- You really just have to shop around your area. Every city has different banks with different fees and such. Find a few and compare. If anyone on the team has accounting friends, they will be able to help as well.

The process isn’t too difficult once you get down to it, and it really opens up a wealth of new possibilities. Just remember to file your tax returns every year!

3

We set up a non profit a few years ago to help fund area robotics teams. It was pretty easy (as IRS stuff goes) because we severely limited what we can do. We can buy robot parts and donate the parts to teams. We can pay entry fees for teams. We can buy team uniforms. That’s about it. But we have that public charity tax number so money donors (to us) can write it off.

Saves an awful lot of hassle with the form filling out if you keep the non-profit corporation small.

The NERDS have their school club account still, which can collect tax credit donations (it’s an Arizona thing), as well as other sources of income, and can pay for stuff that can be bought with purchase orders (travel expenses, etc).

Some things are better done as a non profit, other things are not.

4

Some general resources and contacts on NEMO.
http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm
Under Team Organization and Management