quick question on nonprofit status
quick question on nonprofit status
- Subject: quick question on nonprofit status
- From: Mac Carter <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 10:01:52 -0800
Let me share a bit more regarding the thinking we've put into this issue.
There's a much bigger issue to consider than just minimizing paperwork.
We met with our personal attorney, who happens to be the leader of a very
large soccer club here, to get his view. The central issue from the
attorney's perspective is PERSONAL LIABILITY PROTECTION for officers of the
club. As an officer of a club, it is our understanding that you are liable
for anything that occurs in the club, UNLESS the club is structured as a
corporation or non-profit.
Yes, it's easy to get a state Tax ID number. And, yes, it's easy to set up a
bank account in the name of the club as a DBA. However... and we think this
is a BIG HOWEVER... Don't kid yourself... your bank account is actually held
in the name of an individual or multiple signers... whether it is a new
account or an old account. And that means you are personally liable.
If you are comfortable with the personal liability, then fine... end of
conversation. Might as well keep it as simple as possible. If you are NOT
comfortable with the liability and the potential consequences of being sued,
then the alternative is to structure the clue as some kind of corporation or
non-profit organization. It is our understanding that that is the only way
to protect yourselves legally as officers of the club.
Like it or not, we live in a country with a legal system where people seem
to feel entitled to sue anyone over almost anything... and are encouraged to
do so by "Personal Injury" attorneys marketing their services. Just look in
your phone book for the pages of ads.
Our conclusion is that we are NOT comfortable with the liability issue and
we are opting to form a non-profit despite the extra paperwork.
Regards,
Mac Carter
President, Whatcom Macintosh User Group
Bellingham, WA
email@hidden sent the following on 2/16/04 10:00 PM:
>
Getting a tax ID number doesn't put you in any status. Just make sure
>
that you at least have your user group registered with the state as a
>
DBA, & use that name in the tax ID registration. If you register as
>
non-profit, you don't need to supply any ssn number.
>
>
So our status now is that we are registered as a DBA, have a tax ID
>
number & don't plan on going non-profit unless we're forced to.
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