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| August, 2005 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX .........
Welcome to
Grassroots Client News! Daily updates of news and tips are available on the Grassroots.org blog at http://www.grassroots.org/blog. We also publish a consumer-oriented newsletter called Grassroots News. You can sign up for Grassroots News here. | ||
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The Value of Volunteer
Time
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IN THIS ISSUE: Is Your Web Site "Section 508" Compliant? How to Maintain Your Public Charity Status Software for your Nonprofit Organization | |
| How to Maintain your Public Charity Status So you've done all the necessary paperwork and received a favorable determination letter from the IRS. Congratulations, but you still have a lot of work ahead of you. As far as a public charity in the US is concerned, receiving a favorable decision from the IRS is only the beginning of a long and arduous process. In order to maintain your organization's public charity qualification, you must comply with various requirements that the IRS imposes on these types of organizations. Too many of us receive a favorable decision from the IRS but forget that we must also comply with the criteria set forth in the code. When you apply for 501c3 status your organization is deemed a private foundation unless you notify the IRS that you intend to operate as a public charity. If you submit the proper forms in a timely manner you are generally granted public charity status for five years following inception. The IRS refers to this five year period as an advance ruling period. It is called an advance ruling because the IRS has not yet made a final determination yet. During this probationary period, your organization will need to begin raising a certain percentage of support money from the general public and government. Once five years have elapsed from the date of your advance ruling decision, the IRS will request financial information. The IRS will then review this information and decide whether your organization has complied with the requirements to remain a public charity. In order to be classified as a public charity, your organization must pass one of two tests that the IRS uses to qualify public charities. An organization will qualify as publicly supported if it passes the one-third support test. If it fails that test, it may qualify under the facts and circumstances test. One-Third Support Test Facts and Circumstances Test Here, the IRS is giving organizations who didn't quite pass the one-third support test another shot. Notice that this test contains a less rigorous standard but also adds a subjective component. This gives the IRS much discretion in deciding who qualifies under this test. If your organization fails to pass either test the IRS will classify your organization as a private foundation - at least for now. This means that your organization will be subject to certain taxes and will not be eligible for most grants, among other things. If your organization would like more
information about this topic please sign up for our free legal
consulting program at www.grassroots.org/do/Legal | ||
| Free Web Design Grassroots.org now also offers two free web design services for registered nonprofit organizations in the US and Canada: 1. We provide web design volunteers who can work with you to learn about your organization and develop a web site based on information that you provide and the message you want your web site to convey. 2. Our free WYSIWYG ("What You See is What You Get") application allows you to create your own web site without requiring any technical skills such as knowledge of HTML or other web development or programming languages. See a sample web site that was created using the WYSIWYG tool. There is no cost for the design services but, as with our free hosting service, clients must display a Grassroots.org banner on their home page. You can apply for all of our web services at http://www.grassroots.org/Tools. | ||
| Software for your Nonprofit Organization If your organization needs application software for its employees, TechSoup provides discounts on many titles. Requirements and guidelines vary by vendor, but only registered nonprofit organizations qualify. Some examples of the discounted software include: Microsoft Office 2003 Professional - $20.00/user Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade - $8/user Microsoft FrontPage 2003 - $7/user Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 - $35/user More product listings are available on their web site. | ||
| Recent Conferences Grassroots.org recently exhibited at the recent CTCNet, Neighborhood Networks and National Council on Independent Living conferences. It was a pleasure to meet many of you there. Look for us at other nonprofit conferences, including those sponsored by the Community Action Partnership in August and Maryland Nonprofits in November. | ||
| Grassroots.org Shirts, Mugs and More You can now buy Grassroots.org merchandise at our new online store. The store currently features shirts, mugs, prints, and more. You can visit the store by going to http://www.grassroots.org/store. Any purchases you make from our online store are tax deductible. | ||
| Donation Exchange This forum on Grassroots.org was created to facilitate the exchange of donated items. Organizations or individuals looking to donate items or those in search of obtaining donated goods should join in the discussion. | ||
| Shared Computer Toolkit For organizations and individuals operating computer labs in schools, libraries, technology centers or other public places, Microsoft has released a beta version of their Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP. The software is designed to allow administrators to stop tampering, prevent access to data residing on the computer or network disk space, create user profiles, and enable accessibility features for users. | ||
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Free Services
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Discussion Forums Our forums are a great way for you to help and encourage others, to allow others to learn more about you and your organization, and to build relationships with others in the same field of interest. You can access all of the Grassroots discussion forums by clicking here We encourage you to visit the forums, register, and participate. Let your voice be heard! |
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| Donations Please consider contributing to Grassroots.org to help the organization to fulfill its mission to provide free services to nonprofit organizations and to provide information to the general public on various social issues. To donate, go to our donation web page. | ||
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Your Feedback To get a text version of this newsletter to be sent to you in the future, send an email to address@grassroots.org | ||
| About Grassroots.org Grassroots.org is a nonprofit organization that is looking to change the world slowly but surely via the Internet at local, national, and international levels. This is done is through the development of sites dedicated to specific issues and by offering free services to other nonprofit organizations. | ||
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