A one Atmosphere increase is more like 10 yards of water depth, not three. A two atmosphere environment, while a delta of one from a standard one atmosphere environment just as is a vacuum, is much more survivable than a vacuum.
I am not saying that you will die instantly in a vacuum, provided you can equalize pressure. What I am saying is that because of the zero pressure you will not be able to draw enough oxygen molecules into your lungs to sustain life.
Oxygen masks, huh. Too bad you didn't work for NASA -- could have saveed the taxpayers millions of dollars for unecessary space suits.
We could put you in a vacuum along with a bottle of pure oxygen, and you would shortly die. If you managed to bring enough oxygen into your lungs to provide your bodily needs, the resulting difference in pressure would blow you up.
I agree with lance that you may be a social club. But check out the regs for yourself, see http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf which tells about the different kinds of tax exempt organizations and how to apply for status.
No matter which category you end up, all your board members should understand the limitations so as to avoid stepping over the line.
I went through an application process about 10 years ago, so the following may have changed. When I applied for the tax number, the type of organization was to be indicated (if Pub 557 doesn't tell you which one, search the irs.gov website). In the form letter the IRS sent out, they indicated that application for status was required if the organization's annual income exceeded a certain threshold. The exact level of the threshold escapes me, seems it was either $2000 or $5000, but it may have changed since then. Point is that if your group just has a 100 members or so meeting in free public rooms at libraries and your major revenue is dues to cover a newsletter, you may not even need to apply for formal recognition. Should this turn out to be the case, you still need to understand and comply with the laws. I'd guess that you may have already applied for a tax ID if you've been turned down for 501(c)(3) status, so check into whether you should change the organization type associated with that number or apply for a new one.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or accountant, so review the situation yourself from other sources.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's an article in a trade publication about how an entire harbor was jammed. Culprit turned out to be TV antenna pre-amplifiers.
I am not saying that you will die instantly in a vacuum, provided you can equalize pressure. What I am saying is that because of the zero pressure you will not be able to draw enough oxygen molecules into your lungs to sustain life.
We could put you in a vacuum along with a bottle of pure oxygen, and you would shortly die. If you managed to bring enough oxygen into your lungs to provide your bodily needs, the resulting difference in pressure would blow you up.
No matter which category you end up, all your board members should understand the limitations so as to avoid stepping over the line.
I went through an application process about 10 years ago, so the following may have changed. When I applied for the tax number, the type of organization was to be indicated (if Pub 557 doesn't tell you which one, search the irs.gov website). In the form letter the IRS sent out, they indicated that application for status was required if the organization's annual income exceeded a certain threshold. The exact level of the threshold escapes me, seems it was either $2000 or $5000, but it may have changed since then. Point is that if your group just has a 100 members or so meeting in free public rooms at libraries and your major revenue is dues to cover a newsletter, you may not even need to apply for formal recognition. Should this turn out to be the case, you still need to understand and comply with the laws. I'd guess that you may have already applied for a tax ID if you've been turned down for 501(c)(3) status, so check into whether you should change the organization type associated with that number or apply for a new one.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or accountant, so review the situation yourself from other sources.