What is a Nonprofit Organization?
Before you go further, you are encouraged to download from the IRS site both Publication 557 and the Instructions and form for Form 1023.1 Please read these. The information in them is extremely valuable and will help you make more informed decisions. Nonprofit organizations represent individual or collective action to address a problem or enhance society in ways other than that provided through governments (federal, state, local) or for individual profit (corporate stockholders, partners, sole proprietors). Bruce Hopkins, in his book, “Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide” quotes the 1973 congressional testimony of then Secretary of the Treasury, George P. Shultz, who said that charitable organizations “are an important influence for diversity and a bulwark against overreliance on big government.”2 Thus nonprofits are voluntary organizations with a primary purpose of serving the public good. They are exempt from federal taxes and many state and local taxes. Th
The role of the nonprofit organization is unique. Charitable nonprofit organizations provide essential services within our communities and fill a gap left by government and private business. Nonprofits provide direct services, research and document critical issues, give a voice to those unspoken for, and unite communities along common interests. A nonprofit organization, upon incorporation, is a legal entity until it is dissolved. It is eligible to contract, to sue on its own behalf, and to be sued by an outside party. Income from a nonprofit organization does not belong to its members or board of directors. Thus members do not have a right to the organization’s income or assets, as they could from for-profit, or private, companies. Nonprofits require a different structure Also referred to as the independent, or third sector, nonprofits are set apart from government and business. They are mission-focused and receive their funding from foundation grants, individual donations, government
Within this chapter, the term includes nonprofit organizations or similar legal entities that acquire lands and interests in land for possible transfer to us by gift, purchase, exchange, or some other means. Nonprofit organizations serve a useful role in acquiring lands and interests in land that have significant public values. We encourage work with such organizations consistent with the guidelines in this chapter. 5.4 How do cooperative relationships with nonprofit organizations support the land acquisition program? Because of the lengthy time requirements in the budget and appropriation process, there are occasions when we are unable to acquire land in response to imminent threats to critical resources or to buy needed resources under favorable terms. Working in the private real estate market, nonprofit organizations have the ability to react quickly to these threats and to protect important resources. However, each transaction must clearly define the role of nonprofit organizations
