And now, a word from our local nonprofits

The phone is still ringing in reaction to last week’s story, “Small enough to fail?,” about local nonprofits at risk of losing tax-exempt status for not filing returns with the IRS. Jean-Paul Vallet, treasurer of the County Seat Conservation Club, a Goshen, N.Y., hunting club, called the newspaper for help digging up his club’s Taxpayer Identification Number, which he needed in order to file. He’d looked for that number years ago, and asked all the old-timers in the hunting club if they knew where to find it, but had come up empty-handed. He has it now. A member of another hunting club in Jefferson Township, N.J. - which did not appear on our list - called to say he found the story “very comprehensive” and wanted to show it to the hunting club’s board, but had lost the paper, and could he come pick up another hard copy or three? Sure thing. We’ve even gotten some thank-you’s. “Thanks so much for your note,” said an Aug. 11 e-mail from Julie Rosenberg, president of the N.J. Association of Jewish Communal Service, which did not appear on our list of at-risk non-profits because it filed in time. “We were under the impression that being a tiny non-profit organization we did not need to file. Now we are official. Appreciate your help.” “Thank you for your call to the Ogdensburg Historical Society on August 12 concerning our 501(c)3 status with the Internal Revenue Service,” said an Aug. 24 letter from the society’s president, Jean Castimore. “We were unaware of the policy change made three years ago and have not, in those three years, ever received a reminder to file an e-postcard or a late notice. “We celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary last year and hope to be around for years to come. Thanks to your notification and the IRS’s extended October 15th deadline, it will remain as a non-profit organization. On August 15th we filed Form 990-N (e-postcard) to preserve our tax exempt status. Once again thank you.” By Becca Tucker