6 Nov
2015
6 Nov
'15
10:09 p.m.
On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 9:00 PM, Torrie Fischer <tdfischer(a)hackerbots.net> wrote:
Is not making money an implicit attribute of being a
Non Profit or something?
Sort of. You can make money, but most of it has to be from charitable
donations. There's complicated math about exactly how much - at least
60%, but for large donations only the first $5k counts towards the
total, it's based on a 4-year average, etc etc etc. The more
non-charitable income you get, the more you have to worry about that
stuff, and there's incentive to structure as much income as you can as
"donations". The fundraising working group has been working for months
on this, and the plan is for many member collectives to become
fiscally sponsored by Omni, and all their members' payments to be
called donations instead of dues. Most events that we do in the
ballroom are educational, and collecting door money could fit into a
donations framework pretty easily.
6 Nov
6 Nov
10:25 p.m.
New subject: [omni-discuss] Benefit Corporation?
I'd always been told that a non profit can sell things and rent out things as
long as its within the purpose as filed with a 501c3 application. The Omni's
(abridged) legal purpose is to educate, do science, fight oppression, and
operate property to facilitate that. If there's an A/V group that wants to put
on badass professional shows while simultaneously /teaching/ people how to put
on badass professional shows (like a vocational school, for example), thats
legit, right?
If not, could the purpose be legally amended to accommodate a new goal
somehow? "fostering oakland culture" or something just nebulous enough to pass
the IRS.
I'm not a tax lawyer, don't know any, and have not been party to what sounds
like a very thorough discussion group so I hope someone tells me why I'm a
fool.
On Friday, November 06, 2015 10:09:16 PM yar wrote:
On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 9:00 PM, Torrie Fischer
<tdfischer(a)hackerbots.net>
wrote:
Is not making
money an implicit attribute of being a Non Profit or
something?
Sort of. You can make money, but most of it has to be from charitable
donations. There's complicated math about exactly how much - at least
60%, but for large donations only the first $5k counts towards the
total, it's based on a 4-year average, etc etc etc. The more
non-charitable income you get, the more you have to worry about that
stuff, and there's incentive to structure as much income as you can as
"donations". The fundraising working group has been working for months
on this, and the plan is for many member collectives to become
fiscally sponsored by Omni, and all their members' payments to be
called donations instead of dues. Most events that we do in the
ballroom are educational, and collecting door money could fit into a
donations framework pretty easily. 
11:49 p.m.
New subject: [omni-discuss] Benefit Corporation?
That is exactly the kind of strategy we will have to employ to be able
to maximize what we can make off the ballroom. As many activities as
possible need to be justifiable as charitable so that we can sometimes
have a big non-charitable event that brings in a lot of money.
On 11/6/15 10:25 PM, Torrie Fischer wrote:
I'd always been told that a non profit can sell
things and rent out things as
long as its within the purpose as filed with a 501c3 application. The Omni's
(abridged) legal purpose is to educate, do science, fight oppression, and
operate property to facilitate that. If there's an A/V group that wants to put
on badass professional shows while simultaneously /teaching/ people how to put
on badass professional shows (like a vocational school, for example), thats
legit, right?
If not, could the purpose be legally amended to accommodate a new goal
somehow? "fostering oakland culture" or something just nebulous enough to pass
the IRS.
I'm not a tax lawyer, don't know any, and have not been party to what sounds
like a very thorough discussion group so I hope someone tells me why I'm a
fool.
On Friday, November 06, 2015 10:09:16 PM yar wrote:
On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 9:00 PM, Torrie Fischer
<tdfischer(a)hackerbots.net>
wrote:
>> Is not making money an implicit attribute of being a Non Profit or
>> something?
> Sort of. You can make money, but most of it has to be from charitable
> donations. There's complicated math about exactly how much - at least
> 60%, but for large donations only the first $5k counts towards the
> total, it's based on a 4-year average, etc etc etc. The more
> non-charitable income you get, the more you have to worry about that
> stuff, and there's incentive to structure as much income as you can as
> "donations". The fundraising working group has been working for months
> on this, and the plan is for many member collectives to become
> fiscally sponsored by Omni, and all their members' payments to be
> called donations instead of dues. Most events that we do in the
> ballroom are educational, and collecting door money could fit into a
> donations framework pretty easily.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> discuss mailing list
> discuss(a)lists.omnicommons.org
> https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/discuss
8 Nov
8 Nov
12:26 p.m.
New subject: [omni-discuss] Benefit Corporation?
I guess my next question then is: what concrete goals, objectives, and
roadblocks have been identified as far as an actual strategy goes?
On Friday, November 06, 2015 11:49:05 PM Laura Turiano wrote:
That is exactly the kind of strategy we will have to
employ to be able
to maximize what we can make off the ballroom. As many activities as
possible need to be justifiable as charitable so that we can sometimes
have a big non-charitable event that brings in a lot of money.
On 11/6/15 10:25 PM, Torrie Fischer wrote:
> I'd always been told that a non profit can sell things and rent out things
> as long as its within the purpose as filed with a 501c3 application. The
> Omni's (abridged) legal purpose is to educate, do science, fight
> oppression, and operate property to facilitate that. If there's an A/V
> group that wants to put on badass professional shows while simultaneously
> /teaching/ people how to put on badass professional shows (like a
> vocational school, for example), thats legit, right?
>
> If not, could the purpose be legally amended to accommodate a new goal
> somehow? "fostering oakland culture" or something just nebulous enough to
> pass the IRS.
>
> I'm not a tax lawyer, don't know any, and have not been party to what
> sounds like a very thorough discussion group so I hope someone tells me
> why I'm a fool.
>
> On Friday, November 06, 2015 10:09:16 PM yar wrote:
>> On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 9:00 PM, Torrie Fischer <tdfischer(a)hackerbots.net>
>
> wrote:
>>> Is not making money an implicit attribute of being a Non Profit or
>>> something?
>>
>> Sort of. You can make money, but most of it has to be from charitable
>> donations. There's complicated math about exactly how much - at least
>> 60%, but for large donations only the first $5k counts towards the
>> total, it's based on a 4-year average, etc etc etc. The more
>> non-charitable income you get, the more you have to worry about that
>> stuff, and there's incentive to structure as much income as you can as
>> "donations". The fundraising working group has been working for
months
>> on this, and the plan is for many member collectives to become
>> fiscally sponsored by Omni, and all their members' payments to be
>> called donations instead of dues. Most events that we do in the
>> ballroom are educational, and collecting door money could fit into a
>> donations framework pretty easily.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> discuss mailing list
>> discuss(a)lists.omnicommons.org
>> https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/discuss
3251
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3 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
Laura Turiano -
Torrie Fischer -
yar