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Mozilla Foundation Now IRS 501(c)(3) Approved
jesus_X writes "We at MozillaNews have discovered that the Mozilla Foundation is now officially 501(c)(3) approved by the IRS, meaning you can now deduct donations made directly to Mozilla.org from your income tax returns. This is separate from, and obviates the Open Source Applications Foundation donation method mentioned in August on MozillaZine."
We need to get up to around 1,080 reviews on download.com (ie 1,000 more than there were before the campaign started). Currently at 1,040, so if you haven't done a review yet, please add one!
http://www.download.com/3302-2356_4-10299359.html
Roll calling a few of our other favorite groups...
Free Software Foundation: Yep, say they're tax-deductable.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Yep, they say they have 501(c)(3) compliance.
FreeBSD Foundation: Yep, section 2.5.1 on this page says they're tax-deductable too.
Seems like it'll take some work to find an OSS-supporting group that can't accept tax deductable donations.
Not usually. If you get something in return for what you paid, then you didn't make a donation. However, if the ammount you paid is dramatically more than the value of what you got in return, you can deduct the overage.
So, how overpriced was the shirt?
this allows corporations as well to donate and take the write-off.
this is big since it makes the foundation significantly more likely to recieve large donations.
IRS Tax Information for Charitable Organizations
Non-profit's typically have to burn off their cash within a year of aquiring it if it is not for a specific aproved capital function (like buying a new building to house the organization). There are also rules as to executive compensation (often flaunted) and other operational differences. But most importantly a not for profit entity can not go to the stock market for funds because they are not able to return the money to investors that they investors would be looking for.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Exemption Requiredments: none of the earnings of the organization may inure to any private shareholder or individual.
it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate at all in campaign activity for or against political candidates.
The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, such as the creator or the creator's family, shareholders of the organization, other designated individuals, or persons controlled directly or indirectly by such private interests. No part of the net earnings of an IRC Section 501(c)(3) organization may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. A private shareholder or individual is a person having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization. If the organization engages in an excess benefit transaction with a person having substantial influence over the organization, an excise tax may be imposed on the person and any managers agreeing to the transaction.
That is from www.irs.gov basically saying that:
1: No making money for yourself.
2: No political funding as a main purpose.
Usually, it goes to whatever the folks running the Foundation want it to go to. Their expenses include servers, and also the programmers, and other staff.
Doesn't look like they have anything set up for it, but in general with non-profits, you can restrict your donation. They either have to obey your condition, or refuse to accept the contribution.
If you're giving them $10, then restricting it is just going to be a pain the arse, and cost more to administrate than your donation than it's worth. If you want to give a larger amount that's restricted, drop them a line (address is on the donations page) and ask.
The key difference is that a non-profit doesn't have "owners" and therefore there's nowhere to send a dividend. When a non-profit makes more income than it's spending, they either have to spend more on whatever they do, or put the money in the bank for a rainy day.
The IRS 501(c)(3) standard takes that definition a bit further to require that the non-profit must be doing something for the public good, rather than just giving money to the people who set it up. Here's the IRS.gov page on the matter.
Part of requesting 501(C) status is presenting a copy of your organization's corporate resolutions. It should outline the answers to these questions, although I haven't been able to find it online.
Nothing but the finest in meaningless drivel
The Mars Society
Project Gutenberg and the Distributed Proofreaders
Wikipedia (sorta, soon it'll be 501(c)(3) )
Blaze a trail to the New World
there are a lot of hidden gotchas once you have that status, many of them political. For instance, say you had candidate A who really supported open source, and a candidate B who wanted to restrict heck out of it. Moz . org could no longer issue press releases or endorse candidate A officially about it. It's hit a lot of not for profits lately. A lot of churches now for instance are abandoning their 501 c 3 status because of those restrictions. The government can legally outlaw some things a preacher might preach about if they are incorporated under 501 c 3. It applies to any org like that, not just churches. I'd have to google to go find all the exact particulars, but I know there's a lot.
A good rule of thumb (well, IMO anyway) is, DON'T sign a contract with the government or any of it's agencies or bureaus if you absolutely do not have to. Every time you "voluntarily" sign something with them, it's always in their favor in the fine print.
You can only deduct charitable contributions if you itemize your deductions on Schedule A.
l
See the IRS page, "Should I Itemize?"
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc501.htm
For those of us without mortgages or major charitable contributions, the Standard Deduction is far greater than what can be achieved with Itemization...
Permitting charitable contributions even for apartment renters would surely have a huge positive impact socially and economically... but as things stand, I and many others are foreclosed from realizing any *financial* advantage (as opposed to a warm fuzzy feeling) from charitable donations.
Usually, it goes to whatever the folks running the Foundation want it to go to. Their expenses include servers, and also the programmers, and other staff.
You can find out where some of the money is going by requesting a copy of their informational tax return.
If you request it, they must provide you with a copy. No, really, it's true -- they have to do it.
So, if you have questions, write to the Mozilla Foundation and ask for their tax return info.
GF.
Lots of petrified grits
I am on the board of a 501(c)(3) and when we got the designation from the IRS they said it was retroactive to the date that the organization started.. I don't know if this applies to all organizations or not.
IIRC, 501(c)(3) status just means the entity doesn't have to pay income tax on its revenues. Being certified as a public charity to whom contributions are deductible is a DIFFERENT THING.
Don't try to write off Mozilla contributions until you hear they're classified as a public charity...
Danger, Will Robinson!
Hardly a scandal. The Mozilla Foundation has trademarks on the Firefox and Thunderbird logos, and we want to make sure they are only used to label our stuff. Trademark law says we have to ask people misusing them to stop, or we lose the trademark.
When I get a second, after tonight's staff meeting where I will be bringing the issue up, I plan to get back in touch with the people concerned and see if we can't find a way to make these legal.
However, the way to get legal icons is not to distribute illegal, infringing ones and hope no-one notices or fails to take you down. The Free Software movement is (or should be) built on respect for the law. After all, if people ignore copyright law, they can rip off our software. And we would rightly complain about that.
Gerv