Re: By the way, what is "Debian Association, Inc."?
In article <199602010355.UAA21531@sovereign.sovereign.org> you wrote:
:
: I think most states let entities organize as non-profit corporations
: (no stockholders, other constraints), while tax-exempt status is an
: IRS thing, and much more stringent, painful, and _expensive_ to attain.
In Colorado, at least, there are two reasonable "business forms" one can
choose from. There is a "non-profit association", which is basically just
a fictitious name registration on which you specify this as the business
structure you're going to use. The banks understand this category, and make
it easy to open accounts for the association. Then there's a "non-profit
corporate", which requires that you create articles of incorporation (can
be mostly boilerplate), designate two officers, and file with the state.
I've done both of these.
Neither of the above convey any tax exemption. To get that, you have to file
with the IRS. The paperwork is simple, but must be filled out meticulously,
and they'll bounce it back a couple of times with minor nits identified, I
think mostly just to make it harder. I've never done this personally, but
have watched it done a couple of times, and have a copy of all the filings
for a local ham club's 501(c)3 in a pile around here somewhere.
My point is that none of this is hard. It just seems that way if you haven't
done it before.
: Unless you're a big-budget organization that wants to be tax-exempt (?),
: the IRS hassles just aren't worth the pain.
I disagree strongly. Having 501(c)3 status in the US makes it much more
attractive to for-profit companies to offer you hardware resources, and
network bandwidth... since they get a clean tax break with no hassles. The
annual filing requirements are pretty simple until you start handling large
volumes of cash, at which point you can afford an accountant if you need one.
Ya gotta have a thick skin, and be willing to burn some word-processor time
and some postage, but getting a 501(c)3 for an organization that qualifies
isn't that difficult.
Anyone know a lawyer who does incorporations that is a Debian user? If so,
this could get even simpler. :-)
Bdale
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