The IRS and Secretary of State

Today I began to finalize the process of getting my 501c3 application completed with the IRS to gain full tax-exempt status for the Intense Intestines Foundation.  It’s been a learning experience for sure the last 18 months, but one that I believe I will look back on in a positive way since I have learned so much and now know how the government works more with things like this.  

When I called Jason, who was assigned to my application today at the IRS I was surprised to hear how nice he was.  Usually when I call the IRS I’ve gotten people who either don’t know how to help or don’t want to help.  Jason was the exact opposite and wanted to assist me in every way.  We talked about everything I needed to do for about 30 minutes and the conversation pointed me in the right direction.

One thing that I’ve learned is that even with all the technology available in the world, our government will still find every which way to charge you for something.  Jason at the IRS needs a copy of the Articles of Incorporation for the IIF, which is at the Secretary of State in CT.  Would it be easy for him to find this in just a few clicks, nope.  Instead I had to call the Secretary of State, find out I had to mail a request for a copy and for the 3 page document that I needed they were going to charge me $105.  You’d think that we’d have a better way of doing this now.  I realize the government has to find ways of making money, but $105 for a 3 page document?  I hope it’s typed with gold print.  You’d think with all the talk of the “American dream” they’d make it a little easier to get started, especially for a non profit which is trying to give back and help people.

After that I spent about an hour recreating a budget for the IIF, forecasting out to 2015.  My first thought when I was asked to do this when we applied 18 months ago, was how am I supposed to forecast to 2015?  Now after operating for a year, I actually have a much better idea about how things will be.  I can foresee how many events we’ll be holding a year, how many grants we might apply for and get, how many sponsorship’s, and more.  It feels better to be doing this again and not just making figures up.  I was told at first not to worry about these numbers and that they weren’t actually looked at that much, but I always want to try to do things as well as I can.  Funny thing is that we aren’t going to be that far off in the goals/figures I came up with for the first year and we’re actually going to exceed them.  Good for the first real year in operation and fundraising.

The good news is that Jason said everything else looks great for the 501c3 application.  Once I get him the materials, he’ll likely suggest it for approval for tax-exempt status to his manager and the IIF will be all done with the 501c3 process which has taken over a year.  Once this is completed my Board and I have plans to celebrate, what is a very BIG step for us.

Never Stay Quiet!