Can my individual homeschool have a fund raiser?

09/24/2019 by 6 Comments

Can we (an individual homeschool) be allowed to do fund raising similar to youth sports groups, scouts,etc?

What a good question. In general I say, Yes, you can participate in a fund raiser if the fund raising organization allows it. BUT, the profit you make is taxable income and you’ll need to report it on your tax return.

Another homeschooling mom e-mailed me with a similar question:

With 6 children needing school curriculum, we are coming up short in finances. We contacted a calendar company that said it would be permissible for us to sell calendars as a fund raiser for our homeschool. We accepted personal checks made out to our homeschool name (that we registered with the state school board, considered a non-profit private school). We do not have a checking account with our homeschool name on it. Therefore, we have no way to deposit them.

What is your advice to us? The checks amounted to $90. Is this method acceptable to continue as long as we pay taxes on it? Mrs. W.

By selling calendars Mrs W. was operating a small for-profit business. She is free to use the profit of the small business for anything she wishes, including homeschool books and supplies. Since Mrs W. didn’t mention what state she was in, I cannot determine if her state requires business registration. Many states do not require any type of registration for a sole proprietorship using your own name. You may have to file a name registration with your Secretary of State to establish a business name.

To deposit these checks Mrs W. needs to open a checking account in the homeschool’s name. You’ll have to get an EIN number from the IRS at www.irs.gov. You can then spend the money in the checking account on homeschool supplies and close it or keep a small amount in it until next year.

Mrs W. should report the $90 as income on her tax return as either Other Income on line 21 of the 1040 or on Schedule C Business Income if she had expenses from the sale of the calendars (postage, mileage, etc…)

Quite a lot of work for a $90 fund raiser, huh?

Before you try a fund raiser for you individual family homeschool make sure its worth the effort of getting a business name, EIN, and checking account.

Is it worth the time and effort for the money you will raise?
Maybe try having a garage sale or sell something to bring in income instead!

My book Money Management in a Homeschool Organization covers fundraising and offers some ideas for easy fundraisers.

 

Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com

Filed Under: Fund raising, IRS Issues, Money & Budgets Tagged With: , , ,

Homeschool groups and fundraisers. Do you know what your state requires?

08/27/2019 by 6 Comments

Michelle asked a question about fund raisers in a homeschool group:

Hi Carol,
We have had fund raisers in the past (Butterbraids, a frozen pastry) and have made approx. $1,500 doing that fund raiser. We had a cooking class that prepared hot lunches and the co-op made money on those. We will have less than $100 left in the check book. We have a Fed ID #. What do we do? What about next year? Is fund raising not a good idea for us as you say in your website? We thought about charging more for membership (we charge $35/ yr now) and if people wanted to do individual fund raisers that would be up to each family. What do you think? Thank you so much for your help to the homeschool community and for whatever answers you can give us.
Sincerely,
Michelle P

Dear Michelle,

Did I say fund raising is not a good idea? I didn’t mean to. Hopefully, I just warned groups that fund raising can be a lot of work.

Charitable Solicitation filings 
If you hold fundraisers by selling products to the public (outside your own membership) you may need to report your “solicitation” to your state, typically the Attorney General’s office.

In my home state of Ohio, nonprofits have to file a Charity Registration form if they do fund raising to the public. One year my homeschool co-op sold candles door to door and had to file a seven-page financial report with Ohio’s Attorney General Office. That report was such a nuisance (and the fund raiser was so much work) that the co-op no longer does sales to the public.

Investigate what your state requires from groups doing fund raisers. These websites have information on nonprofit reporting requirements by state:

https://www.hurwitasociates.com/

https://www.harborcompliance.com/fundraising-registration

In general I encourage groups to get most of their income from membership fees and not depend too much on fund raising. Fund raising can be very successful or turn out very poorly. It is also a lot of work with sometimes only a few people doing all the work.

Individual fundraisers

I’m not sure what you mean by “individual fund raisers.” I do know that it is not proper to “award” a family for raising more money than another family, nor is it proper to set up individual accounts. It’s not right because it is not in keeping with the nonprofit motive or with the idea of a group benefit. In short, individuals are not supposed to benefit; the group is supposed to benefit.

 

My book Money Management in a Homeschool Organization covers fundraising and offers some ideas for easy fundraisers.

 

Are you up to date on your state filing requirements for your homeschool nonprofit organization? Do you even know that your state may require annual reports?

Most states require some reporting from nonprofit organizations on an annual basis. My webinar on IRS and State Filings for Homeschool Nonprofits will explain the state reports and help you research your state’s requirements.

 

 

Carol Topp, CPA

HomeschoolCPA.com

Filed Under: Fund raising, IRS Issues Tagged With: , , ,

Raising money for your own kid is not charity!

09/11/2013 by Leave a Comment

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Fellow CPA Peter Reilly, a journalist at Forbes.com, emailed me about a recent court case involving individual fundraising accounts (IFAs).

IFAs are when you share or distribute your fundraising proceeds among the families who raised the money.

IFAs are illegal and a gymnastics booster club recently lost a Tax Court case and their tax exempt status for using IFAs.

Read Peter’s blog post on the court case. It’s a very good summary (I read the entire court case!)

Parent Booster Clubs – Raising Money For Your Own Kid Is Not Charity

Here’s the bottom line:

Do NOT set up individual fundraising accounts.

If you have them now, STOP!

If you conduct fundraising, do not record how much each family brought in.

Do not have a system where tuition or dues are reduced by the amount of fundraising a family conducts.

 

All fundraising proceeds should go into your general fund to be used for the common expenses of the group.

We’re all in this together folks!
Carol Topp, CPA

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Filed Under: Fund raising Tagged With: , ,