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Back to Work and Learned a Lot Today
I had a good weekend visiting with my friends Candi and Jimmy who visited from New Jersey. They helped to get me out of my slump. My week is going well so far. I dropped Candi and Jimmy off at the airport on Monday.
I finally found an ergonomically correct, stylish and inexpensive desk and file cabinet for my home office so that I can be productive without a back ache. I have been searching for months without any luck and today I finally found one and it was only a few miles away.
This morning, I had my first consultation with an attorney. She is affiliated with a very swanky firm downtown but she was great. She specializes in nonprofits and I learned a lot. It seems that my biggest challenge right now is going to be to find a couple more board members. I have to have board members and officers in place prior to filing forms with the IRS. Since I am hoping to be able to be paid some sort of salary from the foundation in the future, she suggested that I have 5-7 board members including me. Well, if you include me, right now, I have 5 definite and one possible. The one possible is the psychologist and I think it is important to have a board member representing one of the psychosocial services so I am going to work on that. In the meantime, I have to work on the rough draft of the 1023 form which is a federal form for the IRS which is 28 pages long. The attorney that I spoke to today explained that the process will take 3-4 months from the time that we submit the form into the IRS. So it will most likely be April or May before Striving for More is officially a non profit. The good news is that the non profit status is retroactive from the time that you file so I can start fund raising. However, she said that most corporations will not donate unless you can show them your certificate so it most likely will not be successful except for individuals and small businesses that know you personally. She also explained that although it is hard to estimate, her fee will cost approximately $4K-$5K and that does not include the $750 federal filing fees.
There is one other attorney that I am going to speak to that was recommended by a friend of the family. He gave our friend a lower estimate. I just need to make sure that I feel comfortable with him and his experience and that he is including everything that she was. If so, I may go in that direction. Not sure at this point because I really liked her today.
Today is Mackenna's 12th birthday. Vince took her and two of her friends to Frankie's Fun House on Saturday and then we had them over to the house for cake. This evening, we went out to dinner and then to Maggie Moos for dessert (her favorite). She seemed to enjoy the evening even though it was just us. We seemed to be getting used to the new quiet there is with just the three of us now.
Other than that... for now, we are all busy and distracted with the daily drama of busy lives.
I sign the paperwork for my job at Sony Ericsson and hand it in this week. Next week, I head to the unemployment office. Vince and I worked on our budget. We are praying that I can continue this journey without having to take a "real job". I really feel that God is leading me on this journey and that the money situation will work out. Sometimes it is just hard to remember that every second of every day. Please pray for our peace regarding that situation.
I finally found an ergonomically correct, stylish and inexpensive desk and file cabinet for my home office so that I can be productive without a back ache. I have been searching for months without any luck and today I finally found one and it was only a few miles away.
This morning, I had my first consultation with an attorney. She is affiliated with a very swanky firm downtown but she was great. She specializes in nonprofits and I learned a lot. It seems that my biggest challenge right now is going to be to find a couple more board members. I have to have board members and officers in place prior to filing forms with the IRS. Since I am hoping to be able to be paid some sort of salary from the foundation in the future, she suggested that I have 5-7 board members including me. Well, if you include me, right now, I have 5 definite and one possible. The one possible is the psychologist and I think it is important to have a board member representing one of the psychosocial services so I am going to work on that. In the meantime, I have to work on the rough draft of the 1023 form which is a federal form for the IRS which is 28 pages long. The attorney that I spoke to today explained that the process will take 3-4 months from the time that we submit the form into the IRS. So it will most likely be April or May before Striving for More is officially a non profit. The good news is that the non profit status is retroactive from the time that you file so I can start fund raising. However, she said that most corporations will not donate unless you can show them your certificate so it most likely will not be successful except for individuals and small businesses that know you personally. She also explained that although it is hard to estimate, her fee will cost approximately $4K-$5K and that does not include the $750 federal filing fees.
There is one other attorney that I am going to speak to that was recommended by a friend of the family. He gave our friend a lower estimate. I just need to make sure that I feel comfortable with him and his experience and that he is including everything that she was. If so, I may go in that direction. Not sure at this point because I really liked her today.
Today is Mackenna's 12th birthday. Vince took her and two of her friends to Frankie's Fun House on Saturday and then we had them over to the house for cake. This evening, we went out to dinner and then to Maggie Moos for dessert (her favorite). She seemed to enjoy the evening even though it was just us. We seemed to be getting used to the new quiet there is with just the three of us now.
Other than that... for now, we are all busy and distracted with the daily drama of busy lives.
I sign the paperwork for my job at Sony Ericsson and hand it in this week. Next week, I head to the unemployment office. Vince and I worked on our budget. We are praying that I can continue this journey without having to take a "real job". I really feel that God is leading me on this journey and that the money situation will work out. Sometimes it is just hard to remember that every second of every day. Please pray for our peace regarding that situation.
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