Charity Experience

GnarShredd · Posted: Feb 22, 2010 1:29 pm Post subject: Charity Experience

Do any of you or anyone you know have experience working with (or even better, starting/running) a charity organization?

Nooga678 · Posted: Feb 22, 2010 6:12 pm Post subject:

I was a board member for a non-profit, and am still very active in a sub fundraising group of that non-profit and active in another, but they aren't exactly charity.

goofyboy · Posted: Feb 23, 2010 3:59 am Post subject:

I have volunteered for some and have run our wakeboarding group here in Houston - which raises money for a local charity. Sup?

brew · Posted: Feb 23, 2010 8:28 pm Post subject:

I audit a ton of non-profits, do tax work for them, and also serve on multiple boards if the finance side is what you are looking for.

GnarShredd · Posted: Feb 24, 2010 6:49 am Post subject:

I'm just curious about kind of where/how to begin. Something I'd like to do in the future, but can't afford to anytime soon. I just like to plan things, haha. I guess the best thing would just be get involved with a couple local organizations and go from there.

Sorry, kind of pointless thread, Cool

Chad H · Posted: Feb 24, 2010 8:59 am Post subject:

My social organization here in auburn does a lot of work with Habitat for Humanity and raises money for MS research. That's about all I have experience with.

GnarShredd,
Not all charity work requires money, some of them just need man hours etc. I'd call your local homeless shelter, humane society, food bank etc and see if they need some help.

arof · Posted: Feb 24, 2010 9:04 am Post subject:

brew · Posted: Feb 24, 2010 9:36 am Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

getting involved is incredibly easy.

1. google the charity you are interested in
2. call them up and ask how you can help
3. ????
4. profit! err....nonprofit!

GnarShredd · Posted: Feb 24, 2010 10:21 am Post subject:

jt09, haha, that's awesome.

I figured it was regulated like crazy and I don't want to deal with all of that, curiosity just got the best of me. I'll holla at a local organization.

_bruky · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 1201

I'll hook you up with my buddies Capone, Profaci and Joe the Boss. They know all about charities.

ttuclint · Addict Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 984 City: Lubbock, TX

dang, thought this might be a story about a night at the titty bar. Laughing

Bowen · Posted: Feb 25, 2010 4:46 pm Post subject:

Honestly, it's easier if you just incorporate. Getting the 501(c)3 is a pain in the ass and I've heard of some people's taking up to a year for approval.

There is nothing that says you can't have a for profit institution that does good... Plus, depending on what you are trying to do, it's actually easier to get sponsors if you are non a non-profit as corporations more readily write checks for marketing than they do for non-profits because they actually do due diligence on the non-profits to make sure it's not a scam, then they have to do all the paper work to make sure they are writing it off correctly.

There is nothing that says a for-profit institution has to make money (thus making it a non-profit), and no, I'm not telling you to lie or skim off the top. From my experience it's easier to be for profit.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Bowen, interesting take that i never thought of before. i've been part of 2 nonprofits, one 501c3, one under the table/unregistered/whatever. i could see your position being a good one, if only for simplicity. people are going to be donating to the institution anyway, so your point about it being unprofiting, as opposed to non-profit, makes sense. SO MUCH pain in the arse paperwork w/ the non-profit.

brew · Posted: Feb 26, 2010 5:36 am Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

brew, not all 501c3 operations are for charity. for instance, the high school lacrosse team i coached for 6 years was a 501c3 and i can easily see where simply running it as a llc (or similar - someone else would know better what designation would work best), would have been a TON easier. parents paid into the team for their kid's participation - not deductible anyway because it isn't a donation, it's a fee. donors bought car wash tickets and no one deducts $5. advertisers bought ads on posters and programs, but iirc, that's not deductible either. i'm sure it could have been set up as deductible, but that's a huge pain in the arse for $50 here and $100 there.

for simplicity sake, i can absolutely see why you could run your org as for-profit over non-profit.

brew · Posted: Feb 26, 2010 8:58 am Post subject:

That's not a charitable organization, it's a social organization that is attached to the school system. You should have just run it through the high school as a self sufficient club rather than a stand alone entity. You could likely have set it up as a C Corporation and let it be responsible for it's own taxes, but the whole point of the 501(c)(3) is so that you don't have to pay taxes. Plus I don't think it would have stood up to an IRS audit as a legitimate business entity and would have had it's corporate structure revoked.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

brew, the team was not attached to the school system. club sport, not varsity - no connection but the use of the name. how would it not have stood up as a legitimate business entity? is the ymca not a legitimate business entity? little league? pop warner?

brew · Posted: Feb 26, 2010 11:23 am Post subject:

YMCA's are 501(c)(3)'s and most of the time the other entities you mentioned are set up that way as well or a different variation of 501(c). The main reason for setting up this way is for the tax benefit. You could likely set one up as a for profit business and pay the taxes. However, if it's posting losses constantly then you are going to have a problem.

If you're set up as a for profit, then you can't take donations that would be deductible to the donee. There's no way around it.

Bowen · Posted: Feb 26, 2010 5:27 pm Post subject:

brew, I understand where you are coming from, but depending on donation size, members vs. donors, sponsors... it's a hell of a lot easier to be an LLC that doesn't make money (and therefore doesn't pay taxes, though you still have to file). What we need is more information about what he is trying to do and how he wants to structure it.

For instance, I technically have a non-profit 501(c)(3) in DFW that I am authorized to run (though I admittedly am doing nothing with it right now). It was to be set up as a society that would have paying members and corporations would sponsor it to exist. (in a nutshell) While I had members interested, I never got any corporations interested, and therefore didn't have the funds available to start up.

I spoke with a VERY successful local entrepreneur about this and his first question was "Why did you do a non-profit?" Now this entrepreneur also runs a loosely similar organization to what I was trying to do in Dallas, and has large corporations "sponsor" his group. He explained to me that, while he doesn't turn a profit in this org, by him not being a non-profit it's easier for him to get money from the marketing department to "sponsor" events, than it is for him to go through the non-profit route, have to be checked out by the company (to make sure it's not a scam), go through their legal department, and then have to have A/P cut the check and code it to a cost center that may or may not exist. Then they have to track it, provide the invoice... A few months ago he had the marketing department of the local mercedes dealers write him a check no questions asked to pay for a happy hour for his group.

Again, what is easier/better depends on the structure and what he is trying to do.

Also, I agree that you'll have a problem if you continually post losses, but you won't have a problem if you continually break even. Again, I'm not telling him to lie, cheat, or steal, but if he wants to give away money, or utilize money given to him to do good, he can use all of it every year...