Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 23:06:06 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: dwilde1@ibm.net Cc: Frank Pawlak <fpawlak@execpc.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG, jkh@time.cdrom.com Subject: Re: Promoting FreeBSD - the user's piece of the action. Message-ID: <199804130506.XAA07529@lariat.lariat.org> In-Reply-To: <35319B1F.9D61370F@ibm.net> References: <199804130217.VAA02346@darkstar.connect.com> <199804130446.WAA07296@lariat.lariat.org>
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At 09:57 PM 4/12/98 -0700, Don Wilde wrote: >I beg to differ, Brett. The definition of 501c3 is very broad. Witness >the political hacks Gingrich did with 501c3. You can 'educate' people >about anything in almost any way. You can even make (limited) amounts of >money commercially from it, as long as the money -- except for salaries >and those needn't be tiny -- goes back into the educational purpose. Not so -- especially not nowadays. The IRS is narrowing the definition and the courts are supporting it. For example, quite a few computer users' groups and community networks whose purpose is to teach people about the Internet have lost their 501(c)(3) status. The Gingrich Follies may be partially to blame. I experienced this first-hand; an educational organization I founded was initially given the go-ahead for 501(c)(3) and then booted out. We pretty much had our choice between 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(12). We took the latter because it had fewer restrictions on activity. >There was a really good book written by Nolo Bene Press up in >the bay area about Non Profits. That's Nolo Press, and they have two books on non-profits. Unfortunately, as we found out, they were overly optimistic about one's chances of getting a positive determination. >After all, we're not running drugs here >and that's the only thing the Feds care about any more. Not so at all. The IRS now cares about restricting organizations' tax exemptions -- a lot. They're re-examining organizations that have had 501(c)(3)'s for decades. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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