- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Messages
- 797
Gather round, boys and girls, time to have a family meeting. Sit down with Uncle Riley. Eli, get off my lap. Thank you.
As many of you know we have been working for the past year or so to become designated as a 501(c)3 status with the United States IRS. What that means, pretty much, is that we wished to be recognized as a fully non-profit corporation. Our philosophy behind this was that we truly wish to be Servants of All, and have a focus on giving back to our community/communities, the world at large, etc. We wished to be not only a community of Wheel of Time fans, but to also be a service organization. Our current Feast of Lights drive, which is not only within TarValon.net but for the Wheel of Time community at large is an example. Last year we worked with and through Heifer International.
We finally got a response from the IRS a couple of weeks ago to our application. We were told that if any part of our organization had a purpose other than service or charitable purposes, we would not qualify for 501(c)3 designation.
As we all know, our most treasured aspect of our community is the whole "community" part. We were formed, and still exist (mostly) to be an elaborate fan club for the books that we all love so much. We, the Board of Directors, felt that if we were to change our community to fit more in line with what the IRS has in mind for that designation we would lose entirely too much of our identity. We wouldn't be us anymore.
So we went, "Well crap. Now what do we do?" We did some research, and found that as a community we would more likely fit in better as a 501(c)7, which is a Social Club. We figured, "Well, that is what we are."
So what's the upside to this? We don't get taxed by the IRS on our assets. Which makes me, as the CFO, happy. The sucky part? Contributions made to TarValon.net cannot be consiered tax deductible. Which makes me sad.
"So what does this mean? How does this affect us?" you ask? I'm glad you asked that, because.... Not a darn thing. It will not affect in any way how we operate, and furthermore it will not affect our vision of being a service oriented organization. Not one bit. All it really means is different paper work.
The only other real and tangible change will be that for the year 2010 we will be filing our tax return as the new designation, which means that contributions made to us in 2010 will not be tax deductible. Which also saddens me, because I know some of you were very generous and I really wish we could offer that to you. I suggest firebombing the IRS, 'cause it's all their fault. Not really. Well, maybe. No, better not, 'cause then we'd get in trouble, and prison is no fun.
Our efforts in the immediate future will be to re-apply for designation as a 501(c)7. We've been told that our fees we have paid so far (which are not inconsiderable) will be applied to that new application. Once we have secured that, we will be exploring different ways we can continue to further our philanthropic goals. We have a couple of options we're kicking around, and we'll let you know more when we find out more.
Now, I do know some of you may be wondering why, if we found out about this a few weeks ago, are we waiting until now to make any kind of announcement. It's simple. We wanted to be careful, deliberate, and consider our options, and discuss them at length. It would have been easy to go "THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! WHATTAWEDO? WHATTAWEDO?" We didn't want to do that.
So. Any questions?
As many of you know we have been working for the past year or so to become designated as a 501(c)3 status with the United States IRS. What that means, pretty much, is that we wished to be recognized as a fully non-profit corporation. Our philosophy behind this was that we truly wish to be Servants of All, and have a focus on giving back to our community/communities, the world at large, etc. We wished to be not only a community of Wheel of Time fans, but to also be a service organization. Our current Feast of Lights drive, which is not only within TarValon.net but for the Wheel of Time community at large is an example. Last year we worked with and through Heifer International.
We finally got a response from the IRS a couple of weeks ago to our application. We were told that if any part of our organization had a purpose other than service or charitable purposes, we would not qualify for 501(c)3 designation.
As we all know, our most treasured aspect of our community is the whole "community" part. We were formed, and still exist (mostly) to be an elaborate fan club for the books that we all love so much. We, the Board of Directors, felt that if we were to change our community to fit more in line with what the IRS has in mind for that designation we would lose entirely too much of our identity. We wouldn't be us anymore.
So we went, "Well crap. Now what do we do?" We did some research, and found that as a community we would more likely fit in better as a 501(c)7, which is a Social Club. We figured, "Well, that is what we are."
So what's the upside to this? We don't get taxed by the IRS on our assets. Which makes me, as the CFO, happy. The sucky part? Contributions made to TarValon.net cannot be consiered tax deductible. Which makes me sad.
"So what does this mean? How does this affect us?" you ask? I'm glad you asked that, because.... Not a darn thing. It will not affect in any way how we operate, and furthermore it will not affect our vision of being a service oriented organization. Not one bit. All it really means is different paper work.
The only other real and tangible change will be that for the year 2010 we will be filing our tax return as the new designation, which means that contributions made to us in 2010 will not be tax deductible. Which also saddens me, because I know some of you were very generous and I really wish we could offer that to you. I suggest firebombing the IRS, 'cause it's all their fault. Not really. Well, maybe. No, better not, 'cause then we'd get in trouble, and prison is no fun.
Our efforts in the immediate future will be to re-apply for designation as a 501(c)7. We've been told that our fees we have paid so far (which are not inconsiderable) will be applied to that new application. Once we have secured that, we will be exploring different ways we can continue to further our philanthropic goals. We have a couple of options we're kicking around, and we'll let you know more when we find out more.
Now, I do know some of you may be wondering why, if we found out about this a few weeks ago, are we waiting until now to make any kind of announcement. It's simple. We wanted to be careful, deliberate, and consider our options, and discuss them at length. It would have been easy to go "THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! WHATTAWEDO? WHATTAWEDO?" We didn't want to do that.
So. Any questions?
