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I am a homeschooling mother and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) combining my experience and knowledge to help homeschool organizations such as co-ops, support groups, music and sports programs. HomeschoolCPA answers questions from homeschool leaders on many topics such as nonprofit status, liability, paying teachers, tax exempt status and taxes.
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8:22 AM, Jun. 29, 2008
Individual fundraisers and homeschool groups
(view similar articles on Q&A from Homeschool Leaders)
Michelle in CO asked a question about fund raisers in a homeschool group:
Hi Carol,
We have had fund raisers in the past (butterbraids, a frozen pastry) and have made approx. $1,500 doing that fund raiser. We had a cooking class that prepared hot lunches and the co-op made money on those. We will have less than $100 left in the check book. We have a Fed ID #. What do we do? What about next year? Is fund raising not a good idea for us as you say in your website? We thought about charging more for membership (we charge $35/ yr now) and if people wanted to do individual fund raisers that would be up to each family. What do you think? Thank you so much for your help to the homeschool community and for whatever answers you can give us.
Sincerely,
Michelle P
Dear Michelle,
Did I say fund raising is not a good idea on my website? I didn't mean to. Hopefully I just warned groups that fund raising can be a lot of work. And if you sell products to the public (outside your own membership) you may need to report your "solicitation" to your state. I'm writing an article now on fund raising and I do say this:
Your state may have reporting requirements if you are representing yourself to the public as a nonprofit organization. In my home state of Ohio, we have to file a Charity Registration form if we do fund raising to the public. One year we sold candles door to door and had to file a seven-page financial report with Ohio’s Attorney General Office. That report was such a nuisance (and the fund raiser was so much work) that we no longer do sales to the public. Investigate what your state requires from groups doing fund raisers. This website has nonprofit reporting requirements by state: http://www.hurwitasociates.com/.
In general I encourage groups to get most of their income from membership fees and not depend too much on fund raising. Fund raising can be very successful or turn out very poorly. It is also a lot of work with sometimes only a few people doing all the work.
I'm not sure what you mean by "individual fund raisers." I do know that it is not proper to "award" a family for raising more money than another family, nor is it proper to set up individual accounts. I know that scouts do this type of thing and the IRS frowns upon it (the troop sets up "cookie" accounts for each Girl Scout; she who sells the most cookies gets more in her troop account.) It's not right because it is not in keeping with the nonprofit motive or with the idea of a group benefit. In short, individuals are not supposed to benefit; the group is supposed to benefit.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope my website was helpful. I wish you success in Colorado as you serve homeschooling families!
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