"If a Board Officer pushes for a fundraiser wherein she is the sales rep and makes thousands in commission from the fundraiser, isn't that a violation of the non-inurement provision?"

PTONaive you are anything BUT naive.

Search these BB for 501c3 and you will find the rules somewhere,,,,no private gains are allowed under the IRS rules. I have no clue what non inurement means, but even without dissecting non-profit code and definitions, doesnt common sense say that the above scenario is just a teeny weeny bit unethical?

As someone else said on these boards, common sense is in short supply in our society.

Gosh if all used common sense, we would have SO MUCH MORE time to dedicate our energies to the kids and their welfare, and wouldnt have to mess with the issues the adults create, and all this, for such a BIG paycheck we do it for (smile)!!

And going back to another post, if a volunteer feels entitled to perks (you can search for 'volunteer perks' and you will get an earful) like extravagent luncheons and freebies (monetary or other), that does not even fit with the spirit of volunteering, does it. Recognition is good, and nominal value 'gifts' or potluck luncheons and such too are entriely appropriate, but over the top perks (we all know one when we see one, kind of like porn) do not make for smooth sailing in any volunteer organization and breeds ill will among the rest of the group.

The IRS doesnt care about touchy feely stuff like that, if youre 501c3, the corp cant be used for private gains. period.

I have 2 quetions.......I just found out that our current PTO has a non-profit status. It seems that we have not filed a 501(c) for the past 2 years since we have had a new Pres and treasurer. Is it necessary to file the 501(c) each year? I know that we did gross over $20k each year. Also if the board members take themself out to lunch several times a year while "doing" PTO events, is that a non-inurement?

One of the articles that must be added to the by laws has to do with "non-inurement". Can any of you provide a plain language interpretation of that? Also, for example, we are 501(c)3 already and we have the provision in place. If a Board Officer pushes for a fundraiser wherein she is the sales rep and makes thousands in commission from the fundraiser, isn't that a violation of the non-inurement provision? It seems to me that this is the very thing the provision seeks to prevent?????

For us, the most time-consuming part was the creation of bylaws.

These will define how your group operates. Once these are set, a lot of other 'things' fall into place.

You can use 'canned' bylaws, which someone else can get you, but once I started looking into it, it became clear that we needed rules that fit the character of our group, so we basically started from scratch, taking what we liked from some samples and authoring the rest.

There are a few IRS requirements in the bylaws, but a lot of it is pretty much wide-open.

Get the Start-Up Kit. I actually waited to finalize our appplication until it was published. It makes the form easy to fill. (The attachments, etc. that will be required are still very time-consuming and a little difficult.)

I realize that you have 'a guy' who will do your filings for a fee, but I think you should consider doing it yourself. With you and your leaders 'founding' your organization, you will all be experts in how you are supposed to operate. You will each know the intent behind the bylaws, and you will all have agreed to them.

I think ours cost $750 total, including the filing of an amendment to our Articles of Incorporation that would have been avoided if the Start-Up Kit had been ready 6 months earlier.
But like I said, part of that cost can be attributed to 'Leadership Education'.

Even if you hire someone to do the paperwork, you still need to provide alot of detailed information for the preparer. The process isn't transparent to your group. I've had the privilege of completing the application for two PTOs as a volunteer - wish I'd known it was a marketable skill!

Thanks to all for your replies. I did actually find the slide show on the MacArthur site while I was looking through the message board. This is wonderful information. I wish I would have ordered the Start-up Guide the first time I saw it. The person who charges $1,000 did a couple of other non-profit start-ups in our area and he takes care of basically "everything" - already knows where to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Thanks again,