On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 12:08 PM, Aude audevivere@gmail.com wrote:
Also, the foundation's tax status would be impacted.
Probably not - nonprofit refers to not having stockholders or owners who benefit from the business. It does not mean that we can't be in business in some sense... The Red Cross does not offer training materials, classes, and such for free. The National Geographic Society runs ads in their "National Geographic" magazine, and the Smithsonian runs ads in their magazines as well. Museums charge admissions and have gift shops, etc, as well as taking donations.
Our rationale for avoiding ads (conflict of interest with NPOV) doesn't derive from IRS or other charitable nonprofit organization rules, unless there's something lurking in the rules I'm not aware of.