Vote!!

[Mark Mandell]

This is obviously only for AAW voting members, but each of us should be very concerned over the legal/tax mess that is confronting the AAW because of the Minnesota corporation's status under the tax code since it was moved from Texas 20 years ago.

We MUST help get the AAW's house in order and to that effect we need as many people as possible to vote.

This vote of the membership is a Special Meeting of members as provided in the new Bylaws. As I explained in response to several questions in the "New Bylaws" thread down the page here, we must get at least 10% of the members voting on the question being presented to us in order for this vote to have any meaning and validity.

Members should therefore check their e-mail (including their spamblocker folder) for yesterday's AAW e-mail and click on the link to vote.

If you are an AAW member and did not get an e-mail about this, please contact the AAW office at the toll-free number to get the information and update your e-mail profile in AAW records.

mm

 

[Dennis McGill]

So What's the Tax implications?

20 years of thinking AAW is non-profit. How's this going to be dealt with?

 

[Mark Mandell]

20 years of thinking AAW is non-profit. How's this going to be dealt with?

It is and always was "non profit" under state law. Problem was Federal tax exemption on 501(c)(3). Solution is the two entities merge under a single 501c(3) umbrella. The old AAW (Texas corporation) with 501 status gets cleaned. Should be seamless. As I understand it, IRS is already on board.

Not the worst situation I've heard of by far. Had one where 750K was donated in the belief that the organizers had gotten IRS approved. Process never finished, but 100K spent then they find out all the tax deductions by the donors would be disallowed, and the whole deal complicated by inability to track the expenditures to substantiate "for the charity's purpose." It got worked out but the legal bills (not mine) were hefty and had to be paid by the people who screwed up.

 

[Bernie Weishapl]

Mark now that a plea has been sent out to vote could the e-mail be sent again in case people over looked it or deleted there spam? Problem with some is their spam is deleted automatically when closing out the e-mail program as mine does. I know it would mean more work but might get the votes needed. Just a thought.

 

[Scott Miller]

Yes the lawyers need to get their cut. Having been on the BoD of a recent start up non profit I know there are a ton of rules and God help you if all the I's are not dotted and T's crossed. The vote is a no brainer as there is nothing gained by voting No but the rules say (here we go with I's dotted and T's crossed) say the change must be approved by the membership.

Good luck herding the cats into the voting booth.

 

[Mark Mandell]

Mark now that a plea has been sent out to vote could the e-mail be sent again in case people over looked it or deleted there spam? Problem with some is their spam is deleted automatically when closing out the e-mail program as mine does. I know it would mean more work but might get the votes needed. Just a thought.

I'll pass it along, Bernie. Having never done one, I don't know how much work is involved in doing an e-mail blast. The voting will be open for 30 days under the "rules," so people have time to respond. Given the changes in the Bylaws and the advent of electronic voting, it might be a good idea for members to pre-authorize AAW e-mails [ from "woodturner.org" domain] in their spam blocker filters. After all, it costs a whole lot less to do an e-mail blast than it does a membership-wide snail mailing at $20K or more.

 

[Mark Mandell]

Lawyer's Cut

Yes the lawyers need to get their cut. Having been on the BoD of a recent start up non profit I know there are a ton of rules and God help you if all the I's are not dotted and T's crossed. The vote is a no brainer as there is nothing gained by voting No but the rules say (here we go with I's dotted and T's crossed) say the change must be approved by the membership.

Good luck herding the cats into the voting booth.

Hi Scott,

There are firms (several in D.C., surprise surprise) who specialize in this area, but they are involved mostly with large charities and religious organizations. I've overseen formation of several NFP's, but my time was always donated. Unfortunately, since my "donations" were my time, I didn't get a tax benefit. Did get a lot of satisfaction, though, which is what it was all about anyway.
m