When Bobby Kerlin and I decided to start a Historical Society back in 1971, we knew we had to have a local attorney create a charter for us and a corporate standing in the state.
This was done in an efficient and complete manner.
Now, I assumed this was enough to declare us as an organization that you could deduct your contributions in support of it, from your income tax. No so, I learned a few years later.
I applied to the Internal Revenue Service for the proper designation and the next few years were a nightmare. I probably began this quest about 1976.
This Sweet Young Thing in the District of Columbia began demanding copies of everything we did, everything we thought, and every one we had speak to us. About the only thing she didn’t ask for was how many rolls of toilet paper we bought a year.
I sent copies of our Corporate status with the State of Georgia, a copy of our by-laws, how often we met, and what we did with our small income. I don’t know about now, but at that time if you brought in less than $25,000 a year, you didn’t have to fie an income tax report. Needless to say, our income was only in the hundreds.
Sweet Young Thing wanted more.
I sent a copy of every notice we published in the local paper. Plus every photo that appeared in the paper.
Sweet Young Thing wanted more.
About this time she had pushed me about as far as I could go. So what do you do when you have a problem in Washington? Yep, you contact your local representative there, which happened at the time to be good ol’’ Jack Flynt.
I sent him a copy of everything I had sent Sweet Young Thing she had asked for, so he would know how sincere I was.
Several days later, I got a phone call from Sweet Young Thing and she said, “Why, Mrs. Cary, I didn’t realize we had a problem.”
Thanks to our representative in Washington, we no longer had a problem. The Fayette County Historical Society, Inc. received its 501 (c) 3 non-profit status.
