On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 10:53 AM, Lane Rasberry <lane@bluerasberry.com> wrote:

Hello,

The easiest way to incorporate in Washington is to get the minimum number of people, I think 5, and then just fill out the online form.

To get 501(c)(3) if an organization has been registered for three years without failing the yearly report or having members go wild, then the bar to get non-profit status is greatly lowered.

If I were to propose a route going forward, it would be this:

As soon as three supporters are identified, send an email requesting usergroup status. There is really no review process for this and it is just something that is granted on request. The group's history far exceeds expectations of applicants.

I should point out that this isn't really the case. While the review process for user groups is simpler and shorter than the review process for chapters, there *is* a review. Depending on whether there will be bylaws that need to be reviewed (which may be the case if the user group is going to incorporate), I would expect the review to take anywhere from a few weeks to a month or two.

If five supporters can be identified to sign on to incorporate, apply as a non-profit organization and operate indefinitely with no budget and few projects. Have the work of the chapter be endorsement of community-organized events, and possibly oversight of coffee funding which is accepted not by the chapter but by an individual organizer if funds are ever needed at all.

One other option that you may want to consider is that of fiscal sponsorship through another Wikimedia affiliate, whether or not you incorporate. For example, Wikimedia DC recently set up a fiscal sponsorship arrangement with the New England Wikimedians user group, in which WMDC will hold the user group's funds in one of our bank accounts and take care of disbursements, expense reimbursement, and financial bookkeeping and reporting for the user group. If something along these lines is of interest, I'm certain WMDC would be happy to assist Cascadia as well.

If five people either want non-profit status and wish to pay $2500 or seek pro bono filing, then they could do that. Otherwise if the five supporters just wait three years after filing the price and complexity goes way down and they could do the paperwork themselves. Otherwise, the organization could persist indefinitely without nonprofit status and so long as it never touched money there would be no concerns.

Is there actually a change at the three-year mark with regard to the federal 501(c)(3) filing, or is this something specific to non-profits in Washington? The IRS has done away with the preliminary/final determinations for public charity status; and, as far as I was aware, that was the only real difference for organizations filing earlier or later.

Cheers,

Kirill

Kirill Lokshin

Secretary | Wikimedia District of Columbia

http://wikimediadc.org | @wikimediadc