We are currently trying to raise money to pay the IRS fee for our 501(c)3.
If you would like to donate funds to help our cause you can send a check or money order made out to "F40PH Preservation Society inc." and send it to F40PH Preservation Society 273 S GREENGATE RD. GREENSBURG, PA 15601 USA

Thanks,
Rowan C. de la Barre
President

Does that mean than any donations are not tax deductible at this point?

Bootstrap operation?

I think you don't need to pay a lawyer to apply for 501(c)3 status - just the proper IRS form which should be at their website.

What you may need $$$s for is the incorporation fee at your state. Check your state Dept of Whatever. Also, you need 3 people to incorporate (President, Secretary, Treasurer) if I remember my 7th grade Social Studies class.

Good luck.

Getting funding to boot strap a new 501c3 is a difficult issue and the process of forming such an organizaiton is more complicated than some people think...

IRS has some information on it at:

http://www.stayexempt.irs.gov/StartingO ... ation.aspx

and at:

http://www.irs.gov/Charities-%26-Non-Pr ... -Questions

Note also that it can take IRS a long time to approve an application for a 501c3, particularly with the cutback in their funding, govt. shutdowns and the tea party type issues they're experiencing.

see

http://charitylawyerblog.com/2013/08/22 ... plication/

And unless you have professional experience writing bylaws, writing articles of incorporation etc., using a lawyer with that type of experience represents money well spent.



Bob H

Lest you need to be told:

You pay a lawyer/accountant (or, if you're lucky, you get his/her services donated free, or barter for goods/services, buy him a case of beer, extort her, whatever) to tell you about things you don't already know, to advise you to plan for things you've never thought about (for example, as really happened to one group with which I was acquainted, how to dissolve and donate/sell off your locomotive when you get in over your head or behind in your bills).

The lawyer is the one who will tell you that you have to pick out someone to leave your stuff to if all your other heirs die in the same bus crash as you, for example.

As noted, you don't NEED to spend lots of money to do this. There should be plenty of self-help books on "how to set up and run your 501(c)3" at your bookstore, or public or university library. Some of them may even be good enough to walk you through the "things you didn't think of" bits.
But the lawyer/accountant does in ten minutes what it'll take you 20 hours to learn how to do by doing it yourself, because that's what they do for a living, and they're used to it--like the old car mechanic joke "Hitting the engine with a hammer to fix it: $1. Knowing where, why, how, and how much to hit it: $249."

We are incorprated, we also have bylaws. If anyone wants copys of these just ask me and I will be more than happy to email you the documents.

I would highly suggest having a attorney do your 501c3 paper work. For 350.00 to 600.00 bucks its well worth the time. I considered doing it myself but after reading the self-help books left me with more questions then answers.

I have seen other groups do it themselves and be run through the IRS 501c3 meat grinder where as the group that filled with a attorney got 1 or 2 questions then approval was done right away. Plus you have someone who can help you with any question and guidance on how to answer the IRS if questions come up.

I would consider too finding a accountant you can use every year to help you do your taxes. With the audits running rampant it's better to have yourself in position of strength then to have the IRS over you saying they are going to yank your status.

Your starting your building blocks of your 501c3 why not start it out right with having the paperwork filed properly and getting your accounting books in order now then later.

Last but not least if you want to go the extra mile I would sit down with a accountant who specializes in non-profits and charities and have him or her walk you through how to setup your bookkeeping. This might mean you'll need to purchase some accounting software or be shown how to keep the books ready for inspection. All this in the end will keep you out of hot water as far as the books are concerned.

Good luck and consider asking a few of the core people in your group to help out by passing the hat around to help pay the attorney filing fee's. This will give everyone some skin in the game as they say to get this baby off the ground.

Best Regard,
Steven Harvey
American Steam Railroad
Project Frisco Mike #1352

You're exempt from formation unless you take more than 27 months to file for nonprofit status.


That's mandatory, and you can't fill out a Form 1023 without answering several questions about the location and content of the dissolution clause. They say flat-out you'll be turned down if it isn't there. Hard to screw that up.


You want the Nolo Press book by Anthony Mancuso.


You're thinking of a complicated thing. Complicated is painting a Van Gogh. Voliminous is painting a Big Boy. Complicated is scaling Half Dome. Voliminous is hiking the A.T.

The Form 1023 form is not complicated. It is voliminous. It's not hard, there's just a damn lot of form. I am talking about the modern current form, not the one you filed in 1997.

A lawyer who charges you $600 to file your 1023... probably didn't read it let alone write it. There are too many essay questions for him to be able to write it for $600. Your lawyer can't write about YOUR organization for you. He will ask you to do it, and then you still have to do it, same as if you didn't have a lawyer. So why pay for one.


I just cleared a Type II supporting organization (which is much more complicated) without a single question from the IRS. No lawyers, just attention to detail.

You can handle a plain 501c3.

Every question on the Form 1023 has a specific purpose/thing IRS is looking for. Each is easily researched. IRS's "interactive" form 1023 has popups on every field that tells you what they are looking for. IRS wants you to give them the answers they need.

For instance, there is a specific type of nonprofit called a Donor Advised Fund. You can find out how they work in 5 minutes of web surfing.

They ask, a LOT, about donation of vehicles. Find out why. We spent 3 paragraphs on our answer.

IRS just wants to know that your operations are compatible with tax law, and you know what you are doing.

Agreed at the initial setup. I don't think it's appropriate to do audits unless you're large enough or have a volume of transactions to warrant it. As far as accounting software, hit www.techsoup.org which has accounting software for nonprofits unbelievably cheap.

You can also consider "cloud solutions" which are a bit more expensive, but let your volunteer staff get to the books from anywhere, which makes it easier to change volunteers, let the accountant see the books, etc.

[quote="robertmacdowell"][quote="nkpsteam779"] As far as accounting software, hit http://www.techsoup.org which has accounting software for nonprofits unbelievably cheap.

/quote]

Techsoup is a great resource and one all 501c3's should use, but there's a possible catch 22 here in the form of eligibility requirements

see

http://www.techsoup.org/restrictions#intuit

Depending on what software company you're getting a donation from, you may have to have 501c3 tax exempt status approved by IRS, not just be applying for it.

Bob H

I know all about that catch-22 LOL. In theory, a nonprofit is supposed to look at your application paperwork and observe that you're definitely eneitlted to nonprofit status, and clear you. You need to partner with an established nonprofit who did do that, when dealing with these large companies who won't.

Of course it is on you to follow through. For instance, if Joe donates $5000 to you in 2013, he takes a charitable deduction in 2013. If you just don't bother to file your 1023 within 27 months of your incorporation, Joe will have to amend his taxes to un-take that charitable contribution and pay tax and penalties. If you are late (past 27 months) then it's not retroactive. Don't do that to your donors.

Have you considered becoming a component fund of your local Community Foundation? If you check out this link https://www.tgci.com/funding-sources/PA/community for the Community Foundations of Pennsylvania and look for the Foundation in your county, they may be able to help you with your 501(c)3 status. That's what we did here in Maryland. I have a non-profit which is a component fund of the Community Foundation of Carroll County. They provide us with non-profit status, all of our insurance needs, handle our banking, etc. You should check it out before you try the hard route of being a non-profit on your own. It may work for you as it has for us.

uote="d.k.martin"]Have you considered becoming a component fund of your local Community Foundation? If you check out this link https://www.tgci.com/funding-sources/PA/community for the Community Foundations of Pennsylvania and look for the Foundation in your county, they may be able to help you with your 501(c)3 status. That's what we did here in Maryland. I have a non-profit which is a component fund of the Community Foundation of Carroll County. They provide us with non-profit status, all of our insurance needs, handle our banking, etc. You should check it out before you try the hard route of being a non-profit on your own. It may work for you as it has for us.[/quote]
I don't think that will help for an orginization located in Massachusetts.

I see where he gets the Pennsylvania, though; from the original post that started this thread:



Perhaps if we had the actual address of record for the Preservation Society, we could look up the Community Foundation for the appropriate region, or go through an organization like https://www.tgci.com/funding-sources/MA/community (the Grantsmanship Center).

I think it a little strange that the original poster's response to someone trying to help them is criticism of that kind, rather than thanks for the general idea.

It wasen't criticism I'm just pointing out the fact that we are in Massachusetts. I am from Massachusetts and that is where the organization was incorporated the Treshiour is from Pennsylvania and the clerk is from California.

Someone from here asked me about our funds so here is our march bank statement. We have just found out about the dormant fee we are getting charged so we have to figure out a way to keep that from happening.