Just kidding. We’re not that cool–we’re ONLY a 501c3. And I honestly don’t even know anything about Star Wars (though apparently enough to understand that joke from a friend), but maybe it’s making you read more about Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank right now, so we’re going with it.
When you start a nonprofit, you have to fill out a TON of paperwork. Just when you think you’re done, there’s one more form to go. But the purpose of all this paperwork is to get the nonprofit designation. A nonprofit is a corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profitmotive.
When you become a nonprofit there are a ton of benefits for your organization: exemption from corporate income taxes, permission to raise funds through donations and grants, and protection from liability for directors and members. You can even get free web hosting services and special postage rates among other things. When you’re operating a corporation whose revenue is going right back out the door to help others, you are looking for every way possible to preserve your dollars so they can make the biggest impact possible in the community you’re serving. So the bottom line: if you are creating a nonprofit, you want to take the time to get the official designation from the IRS. Our official determination letter arrived 10/22/15–the same day our website went live. It was a pretty exciting moment and one we won’t ever forget.
After getting that designation, the first to-do on a long list of to-dos was to register Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank with GuideStar. GuideStar is the world’s largest source of information on nonprofits. The GuideStar database contains a profile for every tax-exempt nonprofit registered with the IRS. They invite nonprofits to update their profiles at no cost to the organizations. Updating allows nonprofits to share a wealth of up-to-date information with the millions of people who visit GuideStar to learn more about nonprofit organizations and the more than 120 sites and applications that use GuideStar data. To earn a logo, an organization needs to complete all required fields for that participation level. The GuideStar logos, acknowledged as symbols of transparency in the nonprofit sector, are displayed on all updated participants’ profiles in the GuideStar database.
We know you’ve worked hard for your money. And we want you to feel 100% comfortable entrusting us with it. By providing updated tax returns and independently audited financial statements on public sites such as GuideStar, we’re taking the guesswork out of whether or not Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank is a sound investment for your charitable giving. We want that answer to always be YES!
So take a look at our GuideStar BRONZE profile here and check it often. We’ll be adding more and more information (especially those important financial pieces!) as soon as we have them.
