It has always been my goal to make Sweet Hope a totally legit organization. ?And now some of you are going, “whoa, I bought stuff from her and she wasn’t legit?” ?I assure you, 100% of the proceeds from Sweet Hope goes directly to our cause. ?I benefit nothing from this endeavor. ?My payment is simply the photographs of the children. ?I promise I will share some of those when I get them scanned. ?I have a few done, but not all.
What I mean by legit is a fully fledged non-profit business with a 501(c)(3) status. ?That would mean that the money you spend on truffles and caramels would be tax deductible. ?That’s right! ?Buy candy and get a tax deduction. ?It’s pretty much win win.
The problem with the full on non-profit is that it is time consuming, difficult and costs money. ?Now I could have saved some of the money from our 2009 sales and used that to pay a lawyer to help us get all of this done. ?However, I decided that I would send it all. ?That leaves us with nothing in the bank for the pursuit of non-profit.
I also have one other small glitch. ?I need a board of directors. ?They don’t give tax exempt status to sole proprietors so we have to be a corporation. ?A corporation needs a board. ?A board could be 2 people (me and the trusty husband) but the eventual scope of Sweet Hope is much more than the two of us can do on our own. ?I need help. ?It isn’t very often that I admit that I need help. ?This time I do.
If you have ordered from Sweet Hope in the past you may have received our monthly newsletter that gives a little update on our non-profit status. ?Right now there isn’t much to report. ?We’ve recruited 2 more people for the board, bringing the total to 4. ?We can start with that, but I’d like more. ?We also have a grant writer lined up.
All of this is very promising. ?The goal is to get the board members together sometime this month to start on the initial formation of the corporation. ?There is so much that needs to be hashed out that it could take some time.
I am still recruiting board members. ?If you live in the Puget Sound area and would like to be on the board for Sweet Hope email me and let me know. ?We need someone with financial skills and someone will legal skills would also be a benefit. ?Or, if you know a lawyer who would be willing to donate their services also let me know. ?We need one of those too.
There will be more updates to come about an upcoming Sweet Hope project and other fund raising events.
I wish I were there.
I have a friend who did turned her work with Guatemalan orphanages into a non-profit. If you think it would be helpful, I can hook you 2 up (I do some work for the organization). One thing I know is that she didn’t make her board local – they are scattered around the country and meet via Skype.
Good luck! I know it is a lot of work to get nonprofit status…but I also have no doubt you can do it.