Hi,<br>The Kickstand is also working on our federal nonprofit status.&nbsp; We&#39;ve been an inc (gainesville community bicycle project inc) and had our doors open since January.&nbsp; Things are coming along slowly, but we are finally starting to look like a bike shop.&nbsp; We&#39;ve put a lot of effort into our space as a venue in the first 6 months, and raised most of our intial funds to purchase tools and lumber in that manner.&nbsp; We are working on the nonprofit filing now, lawyer-less. &nbsp; Though we could use the help... We&#39;ve finished our bylaws, and are writing a two year proposed budget (req. because we are less than a year old). &nbsp; The&nbsp; Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board for our county is paying for our nonprofit filling fee. &nbsp; Functioning as a for profit is possible, but there are a lot of grants we are ineligible for without status.&nbsp; Not to mention the increased donation potential because donors can use it as a tax write off.&nbsp; Pitfalls of working with status pending... none that i can think of because the status is retroactive for the tax year filed.&nbsp; Though you do seem to get a lot more respect once you have obtained status.&nbsp; You have to file taxes either way, though you dont have to pay taxes if you have status.&nbsp; <br>
<br>Ariel, I&#39;d love to get copies of your forms if you send them to me.<br><br>hope that helps.. vyki<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 1:10 PM, maintenence collective &lt;<a href="mailto:bikefarm@gmail.com">bikefarm@gmail.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>Hey Troy, <br>My name is Ariel and I started Bike Farm INC. here in portland... we only opened our doors on Dec1 to the public, and obtained status by MArch. We had an excellent lawyer who specialised in helping groups obtain non-profit status... we did most of the work and used the forms on the wiki to go off of. We can send you our forms if you&#39;d like.... Having status really helps in getting people to donate everything, money, food, tools, etc. But we opened our doors without it and its totally possible.... we do work out of a non-commercial space, and I would say, get incorporated first so that you&#39;re registered as a business and then work on the status thing.... And look for free legal council... hoe that helps. <br>

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