We have been testing the new blog for a while to work out the kinks, but we surely didn't get them all and there will be tweaks and outright changes made from time to time. Expect this blog to be a lot different than the last. The main change is that it will quickly bring you up to speed with the news about SMB without all the long/changing posts we had last year. You can also submit ideas for projects online, become a sponsor, learn about membership, etc. So, like last year, it is still somewhat a work in progress. But if you happen to remember what the website looked like when we started last year, we are miles and miles ahead of that with this new site.
Btw, find us on Facebook to watch the new mini-documentary video of SMB 2013.
Hey, check it out. You can now post comments! All the best, Butte Walker
ReplyDeleteDid you receive a lot of contributions with the idea that this is a 501c3 non-profit? I'm not seeing that status on the IRS website, which means none of the contributions you received were tax deductible to the donors. Kind of misleading
ReplyDeleteSorry about taking so long to get to this. It has been an exceptionally busy week. What has been amazing is that the lack of 501(c)3 status has not been in the way as much as we thought it would. For example, when we first started raising funds for SMB 2013, we had a nonprofit that had agreed to be our fiscal sponsor. That got us through the door of some large companies. It is a long story that is no longer important, but we had to withdraw from the relationship with that nonprofit. I think all of those large companies broke their own rules and donated anyway even though the tax deduction was out the window. We are always upfront about our status and it has hardly gotten in the way. Just two companies in 2013 required their donation to be run through an existing 501(c)3. We were able to make that happen and will be able to do so while we wait for the IRS to make us official. That said, I wouldn't recommend doing things the way we have done them to everyone. It just turned out that Pilot Butte was such an important cause that most companies decided the tax deduction was not important. They were fully aware that there would be no tax deduction and they still donated. What we heard over and over again was, "I'm not doing it to get a deduction. I'm doing it because I believe in what you are doing." It was really heartening that people got it and some really strong relationships were formed. For example, we had an important meeting today and wanted to supply lunch to those attending. But there is no money budgeted for that. So Carol went to Longboard Louie's to see if they could help because they are one of the companies that really believes in us. No problem. Even though they had a lot of catering going on today, they supplied us with free lunch for 10 people. It was incredible btw. As you might imagine, the people who donated money were of the same mind. They wanted to help and the lack of a tax deduction didn't matter. None of them wanted their donation run through a 501(c)3 even though we did offer on some of the bigger donations.
ReplyDelete