I had previously suggested that legal advice (or at least a not-for-profit accountant) should be obtained for filing the 1023 for 501(c)(3) status. I would also like to point out (as I have before on Meta Wikipedia) that it is not necessary to file if the organization's donations are under $5,000. Thus if you wish to announce donations you can accept them if they are under a certain amount. I would also urge you to look into filing with the necessary state authorities regarding charitable contributions some states have made these rules rather tough.
There is also a grace period for filing the 1023 that can be extended for a variety of reasons. I cannot stress to much that seeking legal advice (even pro bono which is what I offered and no one has taken me up on) is a good thing as MANY groups are refused tax exempt status due to the fact that they have not checked the various IRS rulings and have drafted a corporate charter/certificates without the proper exempt purposes or correct recitials regarding termination transfers, etc.. I am working on a church case right now where a church was denied 501(c)(3) status. (No, the US Consitution does not protect religions from everything). This is a complex and complicated area of tax law.
Sincerely, Alex T. Roshuk Attorney at law 325 8th St Brooklyn NY 11215-3313 USA +1(718)788-6696 fax:+1(718)788-2791 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jimmy Wales" jwales@bomis.com To: wikien-l@wikipedia.org Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 12:44 PM Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Announcing Wikimedia Foundation
cprompt wrote:
I'm pleased to announce the existence of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of Florida, United States.
Woohoo! I didn't expect to see this kind of message for a while. :-D
Well, thanks really go to Erik, who called me on the phone about it this morning. That call kicked my butt to investigate the holdup, only to find that there was no holdup, and everything is ready to proceed.
Now I'm looking in fear at this huge 43 page IRS document I have to fill out. (Form 1023) _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@wikipedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l