Has anyone here been involved with setting up a non-profit guild, club or group? If so in the long run how much did it end out costing, and did you do it yourself or have a lawyer set it up for you? The reason I am asking I am part of a group in Michigan and in the past year we have grown to over 100 members. We did want to take it slow and one step at a time but it seems this is something we should do before we get too much larger. Any input would get appreciated.
Chris
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I am the treasurer for a non-profit art association, and have had to navigate this in Indiana. Every state has its own rules for non-profits. Go to the Michigan Department of Revenue website www.michigan.gov/taxes and you should find the information that you need to make the application. There may be a small one-time fee.
Then go to www.irs.gov and get your group set up with the feds. You will have to file an annual tax return, but they have made it really easy for non-profits with fairly small incomes (I think the cut-off point is around $25,000) to file; essentially all you have to do is let them know that you are still around.
Thank you very much Joan for this information, you are the first person to not say...Oh, you don't want to go there!!!. Do you know if your group set it up them selves of if you contacted a lawyer? Hope you don't mind the extra questions, so far I haven't found anyone that has gone through this process.
Thanks again.
Chris, we did it following the information in those websites. It probably would have been easier to toss it onto a lawyer, but we were willing to try it ourselves. Have patience, and you can get through it OK.
One big benefit from getting your non-profit status is that everything the group has to buy then becomes tax-exempt.