Our Not-for-Profit, Tax-Exempt Status (and How To Send Us Your Money!) with photos of our Honduran employees at the bottom.
For a small, two-person charitable project, the learning curve related to achieving not-for-profit status was formidable, especially with a significant lack of knowledge in this area and state and federal laws supplying more hurdles than help. We put a lot of effort into obtaining tax-exempt status, often referred to as 501(c)3, which allows contributors to deduct their donations from their taxes, but the costs involved for lawyers and accountants seemed insurmountable. Eventually and fortunately we learned from a contact in Honduras about the National Heritage Foundation (NHF, www.nhf.org), a group whose mission was to put small organizations such as ours under their tax-exempt umbrella as long as the purpose is consistent with not-for-profit ideals and actions.
In 2006 Congress changed the laws related to charitable giving which resulted in Las Sonrisas de los Niños being transferred to a division of the NHF (which actually went bankrupt in 2008) called Congressional District Programs (CDP, www.cdprograms.org). Essentially any tax deductible donations made to us go to the CDP, and instead of being directly spent by us we must first spend money from our own resources then request reimbursement. We have to prove the money was appropriately used for charitable purposes and supply receipts and other records before we receive any re-imbursement. To the present we self-limit the categories of expenditures for which we request reimbursement to the following (this is why we can say 100% of all donations go directly to operating the project):
1) Wages to the women we employ from the village (see photos below)
2) Food and milk (we provide breakfast, lunch, and a glass of milk to the kids present in the morning, and an afternoon snack)
3) Supplies associated with cleaning and maintenance (soap, laundry detergent, bleach, paper towels, and the like)
4) Fuel (gas for cooking and the project electric bills)
5) Misc., such as medicines, toothbrushes, toothpaste, doctor's visits, children's vitamins (though we've luckily received many donations of actual vitamins and have not yet needed to purchase any)
6) Program activity supplies, including books, arts & crafts supplies, toys, paper, games, copies of pages out of coloring books (actually a fairly large expense), kids movies on DVD, and special event items (e.g. a piñata)
The way that the CDP makes money for its operations is an 8 percent deduction from all donations, so that of a $100 donation we receive $92 and the CDP $8; overall a favorably low administrative fee (though when we first started this arrangement it was 3 1/2%! but we understand they need to be financially sound to perform their good work) with no need to divert money from kids to lawyers and accountants. Nevertheless, there are still a Byzantine series of legal disclaimers, etc associated with such a relationship, and the requirement that we post the following throughout our website: Las Sonrisas de los Niños is a project of Congressional District Programs, Inc (www.cdprograms.org)– a registered 501(c) (3) public charity. Those making donations are encouraged to review the following policies: Privacy Policy State Fund Raising and Solicitation Guidelines Nondiscrimination Policy All moneys raised by Las Sonrisas de los Niños are received by Congressional District Programs and become the sole property of CDP which, for internal operating purposes, allocates the funds to the Project. The Program Manager makes recommendations for disbursements which are reviewed by CDP for approval.
SO…if you are itching to make a tax-deductible contribution to us, make a check out to Las Sonrisas de los Niños and send it to: 152 McIntyre Street, Saranac Lake, New York 12983 (this is not our address in the US but rather one of a friend, who happens to be an accountant and has kindly volunteered to handle this aspect of the project for us; she completes the appropriate forms and forwards the donation to the CDP).
More recently one of our friends and volunteers Matt McCallum put us in touch a group called the Omprakash Foundation (www.omprakash.org) which also offers tax-exempt status to tiny charities such as ours at no cost, so we are considering switching to them.
Below- our employees old and new (11 photos): Mirian, to whom we owe so much; between us and our contractor Jesus we've been trying to teach her to drive; our mujeres for Session Four, Claribel, Mirian 2, Mirian 1, Yolanda- it is difficult to take them seriously as long as they are wearing balloon hats; Mirian showing Becky and Sonia how to make tortillas in March, 2008; former employee Blanca with volunteer Lena and older kid Elvia; former employee Lupita and her daughter; Yolanda with her 2 sons then Blanca with her 2 sons; Miriam number 2 with Angie and baby Mariah (born January 2009); past employees Claribel and Anna,with little Angelo (actually Claribel was again employed by us for session 4); Gail and Becky returned to Honduras in June 2008 and, even though we were closed at the time, visited the project and Mirian, the photo was taken in Miriam's house; former employee Magdelena
Las Sonrisas de los Niños is a project of Congressional District Programs, Inc (www.cdprograms.org)– a registered 501(c) (3) public charity. Those making donations are encouraged to review the following policies: Privacy Policy State Fund Raising and Solicitation Guidelines Nondiscrimination Policy All moneys raised by Las Sonrisas de los Niños are received by Congressional District Programs and become the sole property of CDP which, for internal operating purposes, allocates the funds to the Project. The Program Manager makes recommendations for disbursements which are reviewed by CDP for approval.