New grant funding guidelines for Wal-Mart

[7Stones]

I just heard from our area Wal-Mart grant representative that as of March 3rd, 2008, Wal-Mart will not be able to support any organizations that are not 501C3. He said this decision just came down and it is affecting all the stores. We applied for a small grant to help us purchase a new nozzle for our foam system and we have been waiting weeks. The store grant representative said this decision has meant that they have had to cut off support to schools, fire departments, and police departments. He is still fighting this out for us but it appears Wal-Mart made a corporate decision that will drop them from being the largest private donor to the fire service.

Has anyone else heard about this or experienced similar problems?

Jon

[sportbikeryder]

We are in the process of getting our paperwork together to file for 501C3 for this exact reason. The reason behind it is that federal tax deduction cannot be made by the donar without the organization to which the funds were donated being a registered 501c3.

John

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

More than 2/3rds of the fire service is registered as 501c3 so unless they are going to exclude public safety agencies and educational facilities then it won't affect anything. They're just getting nailed on taxes for donating money to orgs that aren't registered. So they have to pay taxes on the donations, and corps are hit with flat rate 35%. I am INC'd, so I know the pain.

[7Stones]

O.K. So I am back to the "how do we register with the IRS?" question. I downloaded the 1023 form and sent it to my Township Board and asked them to file it for us. I am not sure if they will since it will cost $300 but I told them the dividends would be much greater to our department and the Township. Short of filing as a 501(c)3, is the 1023 form the answer? Is there anything else we should be doing?

Thank you for your help. It looks like it will be 501(c)3 for all the departments who want funding from foundations. In the past there were few who qualified for this funding but now everyone will be jumping on the band-wagon. I am guessing this is one of the problems we had with our Hamburger Helper Grant last fall. Man it hurts to limit our funding options.

Jon

[neiowa]

You don't necessarily need to have to go thru the PITA of registering yourself. In my area most counties have a nonprofit foundation that acts primarily as a conduit for small organizations for such grant apps. And does some work soliciting donations and bequests. These might be directed (to a particular organization) or for general/whatever charitable need. And in Iowa these a conduit for distribution of the idiot tax that is passed out for community projects (idiot tax = charitable % from the state gamblin' scam).

May be some thing like the _______ County Foundation. Likely will find one within a few miles that can act as a conduit for your project. If not a county then in a nearby medium size city. Try your local economic development director for a referal.

[shalavchurch]

The IRS guidelines for requesting 501c3 status are here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf

Charles

[pb146fd]

How long does it take the IRS to issue the 501c3 status normally?

[achief15]

I did it for our county fire officers association, and it took about a month to receive the designation and determination letter.

Now, how many of you are 501 (c) 4? My department is, and it has prevented us from getting a few private donations. We're still non-profit, and charitable, but it has caused a few problems. 501 (c) 3 seems more tailored to educational and religious non-profits if you read the description.

[bferris01]

Most if not all the departments in our County are 501c4 and we are having the same issues

[utfd704]

We have a seperate but related association that has a 501c3 just for this reason, It also solves some issues when the township attempted to secure these funds.