[Noisebridge-board] legal question from a new hackerspace
Mitch Altman
maltman23 at hotmail.com
Wed Aug 22 17:35:14 UTC 2012
Congrats on the new space!
As Andy and Noah said, this really is not a big issue. The main thing that the IRS cares about is that no one use a 501(c)(3) as a means of defrauding them out of tax revenue. As Andy suggested, the Nolo Press book is a great resource.
Non-profits are allowed to make a profit. Unlike for-profit corporatations, that profit doesn't go to share holders, it stays within the corporation.
Individuals at non-profit hackerspaces can use the space as a resource to make money for themselves. However, the space shouldn't be used to avoid (or appearing to avoid) paying personal or corporate taxes.
Mitch.
________________________________
> From: jncunningham at gmail.com
> Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:21:52 -0700
> To: board at lists.noisebridge.net
> Subject: [Noisebridge-board] legal question from a new hackerspace
>
> Hello! I'm helping to start a new hackerspace down in the LA area and I
> have a question about how you handle your non-profit status.
>
> Say for example one of your members makes something and wants to sell
> it for personal profit - does that affect the non-profit status of the
> organization? If they provide their own materials and just use the
> space and facilities? I don't mean large scale manufacturing, seems
> pretty clear that's a no-go; more like individual projects they might
> sell online or at a fair.
>
> Do you ever sell projects as an organization? I'm hoping that if the
> proceeds go only to help support the space (like w/ rent, utilities,
> materials etc) then it could be done without affecting the non-profit
> status.
>
> I know you can't provide actual legal information, and I won't take any
> answers you give as such; I'm just wondering if you all have dealt with
> this topic and how you handle it :)
>
> Thanks a bunch! Here's our website if you want to have a look:
> http://maglaboratory.org/
>
> John
>
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