Patience has never been my strong suit. Originally I thought it might take until the end of July. Or August. Maybe September at the latest. But it wasn’t until yesterday, October 31 that the envelope went in the mail. The big, heavy, “we are applying for non profit status” envelope.
The postal clerk behind the Fountain City
In addition to some logistical delays and other pressing matters (like packing up a house in Sleepy Hollow) that seemed to impede the process, there was the fact that the application contains sentences like the following:
“Using an attachment, describe your past, present and planned activities in a narrative. If you believe that you have already provided some of this information in response to other parts of this application, you may summarize that information here and refer to specific parts of the application for supporting details. You may also attach representative copies of newsletters, brochures, or similar documents for supporting details to this narrative. Remember that if this application is approved, it will be open for public inspection. Therefore your narrative description of activities should be thorough and accurate. Refer to the instructions for information that must be included in your description.”
Phew!
Or this:
“Do you or any of your officers, directors, trustees, highest compensated employees, and highest compensated independent contractors listed on lines 1a, 1b, or 1c receive any compensation from any other organizations, whether tax exempt or taxable, that are related to you through common control? If “Yes” identify the individuals, explain the relationship between you and the other organization and describe the compensation arrangement.”
Say what?
So there was a fair amount of wading, sifting, and plain figuring out that needed to be done simply to parse the form. Now more patience is needed as we wait to hear back from the IRS.
In the meantime, there is plenty of work to be done.
We are continuing our search for space and reading plays. Do YOU know of any places in Knoxville that might make a suitable three hundred seat home for a theatre? Do you have any favorite plays that you think we should take a look at? Let us know!
Staci
But it's done, it's done!!! I must say there was a huge sense of relief and accomplishment when that sucker went in the mail. Kudos to Staci for shepherding us through. A friend told me the story of her non-profit taking a full year to complete this application - and they had an entire committee to share the load!
ReplyDeleteThere may be one unintended side effect for our Mz Staci, though. From now on, if she dares to question what she is capable of...I can now remind her that she is our own FAT (Flying Anvil Theatre) Hercules!
Kudos on getting it in the mail. I still like the old Kroger building in Faragut for a locale. But I don't know how much it would cost in rennovation. But it is right next to a liquor store if you wanted to have brown bag nights.
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