Our Not-for-Profit, Tax-Exempt Status (and How To Send Us Your Money!)

For a small, two-person charitable project, the learning curve related to achieving not-for-profit status was formidable, especially with an significant lack of knowledge in this area and state and federal government/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 that puts 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 called Congressional District Programs (CDP, www.cdprograms.org).  Essentially any donations made to us go through 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 ap-propriately used for charitable purposes and supply receipts and other records before we receive any re-imbursement.  To the present the areas of expenditure which we have considered as charitable are:

1) Wages to the women we employ from the village (see photos below)

2) Food and milk (we provide breakfast, lunch, a glass of milk to every kid 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, gasoline to run a generator, and our future electric bills- we recently, finally, had electricity installed)

5) Misc., such as medicines, toothbrushes, toothpaste, doctor's visits, children's vitamins (though we've luckily received many donations of actual vitamins and don't need to purchase any for at least the near future)

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 (now that we have electricity!), and special event items (e.g. a piñata)

In the future we will likely add to this list room and board for a long-term volunteer and small capital projects such as playground equipment. 

The initial cost to apply/be accepted as a program within the NHF/CDP was $285, and the ongoing cost to us, and the way that the CDP makes money for its operations, is a 3½ percent deduction from all donations, so that of a $100 donation we receive $96.50 and the CDP $3.50; overall a favorably low administrative fee with no need to divert money from kids to lawyers!

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!).

Below: Employees Claribel and Ana (with her baby Anjelo); Magdelena at the tire swing; Miriam, to whom we owe so much!