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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] NGO? 501c3? Incorporate!? Oh my.

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  • From: "Robert Waldrop" <bwaldrop@cox.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] NGO? 501c3? Incorporate!? Oh my.
  • Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 10:53:07 -0600

Most states have a legal way for an unincorporated association to do business under a name other than the name of the members, usually it is some form of "doing business as" or "dba".

Incorporating a non-profit organization is generally easy. Each state has a law governing this, and generally that law has an outline of the requirements of the incorporation documents. Some states have a form that can be downloaded, the blanks filled in, and then that is filed as your articles of non-profit incorporation.

In describing purposes of the organization, all that is necessary for the incorporating documents are broad general statements. (Well, different states may have their own unusual wrinkles, I have experience with non-profits in Oklahoma and Utah, so your mileage may vary.)

You can get an "EIN" over the phone from the IRS. This is like a social security number for organizations and corporations.

Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City

----- Original Message ----- From: "Sean Maley" <semaley@yahoo.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 8:55 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] NGO? 501c3? Incorporate!? Oh my.


For a complete list of 501c3 Permaculture organizations, go to the guidestar.org
website for a list in your area. While Green Phoenix Permaculture works towards
this goal, there are surprisingly few "charitable" organizations to send tax
deductible donations that devote their purpose to Permaculture, or even mention
it. Since we were in one of the largest concentrations of millionaires in the
world, NYC, this was made a top priority for our contribution to the movement as
a whole.

Going it alone - obtaining 501c3 determination - should be a
last resort. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for when going the pro-bono
route (junior level attorney left us hanging for almost a year; pro-bono contact
passed away within a couple weeks of him being assigned to us). The UN has
their own requirements for NGO status. Since time as an organization is one of
them, we will wait on this one.

The first step along the way will be to
file "articles of incorporation" with your state, get an EIN number, and open a
bank account. This gives you about 18 months to file for 501c3 IRS
determination. To do this, file the 1023 form with IRS requesting "charitable"
status. You must show that no tax evasion would be possible through your
acceptance of donations and from your activities. You must also demonstrate
that you won't be controlled by an overseas organization (our mentioning and
involvement with PRI, Australia was a red flag). The form also goes over
whether you get money from "public" or from "private" organizations and people
that might tell you how to spend that money. Plus, you can't compete with
legitimate businesses, who supply the government with tax revenue, unless you
pay those taxes on equal terms and it isn't a significant part of your revenue
and it supports your stated purpose. After the IRS sends the 501c3
determination letter to you, you must file the 990 form every year you have more
than $25,000 of revenue or $250,000 assets. The 990 and 1023 forms appear on
guidestar.org for public access.

Some of the groups I hear about appear
on guidestar.org and some don't even appear on Department of State searches
(articles of incorporation). Since most states have laws against doing business
under a fictitious name, I'm wondering if this may become an issue for the
permaculture community. I know a club can exist under these circumstances, as
they don't "do business". However, I'm wondering if having a PDC course will
present a problem. Technically, charging $500 per student and less than 50
students per year wouldn't require filing the 990 form every year or having to
send in the 1023 form (implied status, due to insignificant revenues), but it
would still require filing a form in NY state that identifies a tax code for
doing business.

I would love to have a discussion with a Permie lawyer.
Lawyers and Accountants seem like difficult nuts to crack for a gift economy. I
imagine it has to do with the same issues I face, keeping excessive rent paid
and not having any time left between family and employment. I know working
together we can overcome these urban obstacles.


-Sean.

----- Original Message ----
From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 2:04:44 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] NGO?

501c3 references USA tax code for a specific type of NGO (*Various
charitable, non-profit, religious, and educational organizations )*.
There are many different classes of NGO's recognized by US tax code.
Not all NGO's are 501c3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)

NGOs are anything that are neither government nor industry, and is a
vague term without a specific technical definition.

Paul


Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

J. Kolenovsky wrote:



Is that non-governmental organization (NGO)? I finally had to ask after
seeing it for the last 2 weeks. The closest I could get to this is 501 c
3.



Usually United Nations recognized (and possibly funded) Non Governmental Organizations.
There are NGO ssummits. One in the recent past in Brazil focused on the environment, global warming
and the Kyoto Protocol.

Is there a permaculture NGO? or anything like that?




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