Letter From IRS

Today we had our monthly board meeting, and Arno came in with a sad look on his face & a sad tone in his voice. Earlier this week we had received a letter from the IRS. He starts reading it to us...

We got the 501(c)3 status! We are now officially a nonprofit organization! Now we can start going after lots of grants! YAY!!!

Can you tell I'm happy about this? This is a major milestone. We successfully jumped through the hoops, and now there's more paperwork to fill out. Well, there would have been more paperwork to fill out regardless, but having that official little number 501(c)3 and our code that goes with it, will help a lot.

Oh, yeah, the code - there were several strings of numbers, & we aren't sure which is the relevant one, but we'll figure it out, & we can give it to people and organizations who give us money. But most importantly, there are now organizations willing to consider giving us money which wouldn't even talk to us before.

*Happy Dance*, or as my husband said, "Party time!"

Lazy & Links

So I said I was going to write more. Yesterday, I worked on the StarHouse Discovery Center and Cote du Ciel websites, & got started writing grants. I should probably spend more time today writing grants, but I don't want to. Part of that is that Walmart requires a non-profit organization to already be on the IRS's published list of 501(c)3 organizations. We're not, yet, but our paperwork is in, & we've heard back from the IRS. Apparently, our application is in review, but one of three things will happen to it: 1] it will be approved, 2] it will be approved with changes, or 3] they will assign someone to work with us to get it to the point that it can be approved. This sounds to me like the IRS wants to approve 501(c)3 applications on a general principal, and understands that most people don't understand the tax code at all. If either of those were not true, then there would be no reason for them to work with us to get our application to the point that it can be approved.

Meanwhile, some cool links:

Women in Wetlands a few months ago posted a book review, about a young woman who loves chemistry, & uses it to solve a mystery.

a friend from the SCA, Ray Zentz got a job offer he couldn't refuse, but too far to commute every day. They didn't have time to find a new home, so they're camping in a yurt in another friend's backyard for the winter! In northern Utah!

another SCA friend is teaching astronomy in high school, but her degree is in biology & chemistry. I sent her to the Open High School Earth Systems course for a text book, and Stellarium, 'cause it's fun & free.

Finally!

The 501(c)3 application is finally complete. By Monday, it will be in the mail. This means we can finally start applying for grants. Time to start writing. :-)

After our board meeting this afternoon, I went out to the Logan Airport for the Celebration of Flight. Got to see a B-17 Flying Fortress: probably one of the coolest planes ever. I also talked to a number of people, pilots, a guy from Exxon, a Civil Air Patrol major, & a lady from Channel 8 KUTA. I left business cards with most of these people, and the lady from Channel 8 would like to have me come in to the studio to talk about the upcoming events we are going to be involved with.

We are going to be very busy in the coming weeks. On 12 June, we will be at the Family & Children's Expo, part of USU's Unlocking Your Child’s Potential Conference. That same evening, I will be out in Trenton, UT at a Giant Star Party for all of the Northern Utah Star Trek Clubs. Then starting on Monday, 14 June, Neil Dabb & I will be teaching at a summer camp for Logan City's Gifted & Talented elementary students. The camp will run for four days. Neil will teach in the mornings about weather, & I will teach in the afternoons about Astronomy. As soon as I am done on Thursday, I will be taking off for Firth, ID, where I will be teaching a Beginning Astronomy class for the Society of Creative Anachronism. And before all of that starts, next Friday, the 11th, is the monthly Cache Valley Stargazers meeting.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. This seems like a lot to do, in a very short time, & I only have a week to prepare.

Progress

After spending the summer looking for a new department at USU to sponsor the Jr Engineering program, Neil Dabb, Arno Copely, and I decided that the best way to get the program up and running again would be to create our own non-profit organization. So we have done that: the StarHouse Discovery Center, with Jr Science & Astronomy as the outreach program. Our website is http://starhousediscovery.org. Now we are looking for volunteers for our Board of Directors and Advisory Board, and a financial officer. We are also planning a Faraday-type lecture/event for the end of December. More details to follow.