Today I received a letter from the IRS granting RevGalBlogPals Inc. tax exempt status under section 501-c-3 of the Internal Revenue Code. This means RGBP Inc. is now qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts. The ruling is retroactive to the date of the incorporation of RGBP which is July 17, 2006.
Now that we have tax-exempt status RGBP Inc will be eligible to apply for and receive grants from foundations as well.
The RGBP Inc board will meet electronically Monday, November 20 to elect officers and begin plans for the organization. The minutes of the meeting will be posted on Tuesday morning on the RGBP blog. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments and we will respond to you.
Hurray!
ReplyDeleteHallelujah
ReplyDeleteGlory be and the saints be praised! (as Mrs. Paroo said in "The Music Man)
ReplyDeleteQC - Thanks for all the work you put into this! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteYay!
ReplyDeleteA question - did you/we apply for the 501(c)(3) status in July and it took this long? My church is applying to house a state run preschool in our facility and need a separate 501-c-3 for it before we can be accepted. I'm just wondering how long the process takes since I'm new at this.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Rev maria--
ReplyDeleteWe were officially incorporated July 17, so we couldn't apply for the 501-c-3 until we received certification from the Texas Secretary of State's office. I don't know if you've ever seen a 501-c-3 application, but it is more than 20 pages long and requires a good bit of research and financial projections.
Long story short, the completed application was filed September 18 and we were told not to expect a response until the end of January 2007. We're thrilled it didn't take that long. Four months from filing is what the IRS says to expect it to take to hear from them.
WHOO! WHOO! WHOO!
ReplyDeleteGood job. Thanks QG Esq.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'll pass that timeline on to the folks who think we'll have the new school open in January. :-)
ReplyDeleteRev Maria, If its under the umbrella of a larger organizztion that already has 501c3, it might be faster.
ReplyDeleteI was pastor of an unincorporated United Methodist church that I helped move to incorporation. We came in under the larger church body. It was much easier than doing it ourselves.
check your options
Thanks Vicar. We do come under the umbrella of our regional church and submitted that certification to the program, but it was rejected. They are requiring a completely separate 501(c)(3) for the non-faith-based program. I'm having church/state nightmares.
ReplyDeleteDo you know if the 501 (c)(3) status affects how RGBP, Inc. members might blog about political subjects, specifically whether or not we can be perceived to be advocating for a particular position or candidate?
ReplyDeleteThis is a big concern of mine (as I know under the present administration nonprofits have been under severe scrutiny in this regard). I've postponed joining RGBP, Inc. for this reason...
I think as long as the organization is not taking a position, it should be okay. Quotidian Grace, thoughts?
ReplyDeleteSongbird is correct. As long as the organization doesn't advocate for a particular candidate or lobby for specific issues with governmental entities, we have no problems. An individual member of the organization is of course free to express her own political views in her blog or elsewhere without affecting the organization.
ReplyDelete