Our Big Announcement!
We have a wonderful announcement to make! Retroactive to August 2006, Swing Des Moines is a 501(c)3 organization! The decision was made a few weeks ago at the IRS!
Celebration
Swing Des Moines is planning to celebrate our achievement on June 2 at Waterworks Park! Come join us for dancing, food, and even some free lessons. We'll be giving away door prizes, and we'll have a grand ol' time. Make plans now to join us! More details will be released in a week or two!
What this means for Swing Des Moines and for YOU!
Well, for starters, you may now make donations to Swing Des Moines that are tax-deductible. Additionally, volunteers may/should check with their employers to see if their employers will make donations - many employers will match donations employees make to tax-deductible organizations, and many employers will also make a donation to organizations their employees volunteer for.
Our current activities will continue as planned - classes on Wednesdays (with more classes coming!), Jive Junction on the third Friday of every month, etc. We have plans to increase the opportunities to dance and to learn to dance in Des Moines, as well.
Swing Des Moines will also be continuing its less-public activities, such as giving presentations and lectures for private groups, teaching lessons at weddings or parties, and giving demonstrations and performances with our performance troupe, Capitol City Swing.
We will increase our educational activities - work with schools, work with community organizations, work with employers, etc. We also have some pretty big, pretty ambitious goals with no real plans to achieve them (yet!) for community projects, things that could make a real impact on Des Moines!
We will need more volunteers, we will be establishing some committees, and we will be calling upon our members, regular attendees, and the general public for ideas, input, and some labor.
Stay tuned for more information on plans, activities, and where YOU come in with all this!
History
This is a goal our organization has been working towards for a number of years. In 1999, we were the first swing dance organization in the country to apply for Federal 501(C)3 status as an educational organization (that we know of, anyway!). At that time, the IRS felt that our activities (namely, regular dances, which were only a planned activity at that time) made us too social in nature. Their stance was that they would approve us only if we either dropped the idea of ever holding dances, or if we completely changed our focus to the under-18 set. We were not willing to do either of those, so were granted the 501(c)4 status instead (civic league).
Since that time, at least one other swing dance organization in the midwest has successfully obtained the 501(c)3 status. We also continued to run Swing Des Moines as though we were a 501(c)3 organization, with the plan to eventually reapply. The Board of Directors votes last year to proceed. We did all of the work ourselves, filed the application in August, and waited. And waited, and waited. This March, we received a letter requesting additional information, and after a few phone calls and a written response to the request, our application was approved!
All of us on the Board are very excited to begin this new chapter in our Organization’s history, and we hope you are, as well!
Celebration
Swing Des Moines is planning to celebrate our achievement on June 2 at Waterworks Park! Come join us for dancing, food, and even some free lessons. We'll be giving away door prizes, and we'll have a grand ol' time. Make plans now to join us! More details will be released in a week or two!
What this means for Swing Des Moines and for YOU!
Well, for starters, you may now make donations to Swing Des Moines that are tax-deductible. Additionally, volunteers may/should check with their employers to see if their employers will make donations - many employers will match donations employees make to tax-deductible organizations, and many employers will also make a donation to organizations their employees volunteer for.
Our current activities will continue as planned - classes on Wednesdays (with more classes coming!), Jive Junction on the third Friday of every month, etc. We have plans to increase the opportunities to dance and to learn to dance in Des Moines, as well.
Swing Des Moines will also be continuing its less-public activities, such as giving presentations and lectures for private groups, teaching lessons at weddings or parties, and giving demonstrations and performances with our performance troupe, Capitol City Swing.
We will increase our educational activities - work with schools, work with community organizations, work with employers, etc. We also have some pretty big, pretty ambitious goals with no real plans to achieve them (yet!) for community projects, things that could make a real impact on Des Moines!
We will need more volunteers, we will be establishing some committees, and we will be calling upon our members, regular attendees, and the general public for ideas, input, and some labor.
Stay tuned for more information on plans, activities, and where YOU come in with all this!
History
This is a goal our organization has been working towards for a number of years. In 1999, we were the first swing dance organization in the country to apply for Federal 501(C)3 status as an educational organization (that we know of, anyway!). At that time, the IRS felt that our activities (namely, regular dances, which were only a planned activity at that time) made us too social in nature. Their stance was that they would approve us only if we either dropped the idea of ever holding dances, or if we completely changed our focus to the under-18 set. We were not willing to do either of those, so were granted the 501(c)4 status instead (civic league).
Since that time, at least one other swing dance organization in the midwest has successfully obtained the 501(c)3 status. We also continued to run Swing Des Moines as though we were a 501(c)3 organization, with the plan to eventually reapply. The Board of Directors votes last year to proceed. We did all of the work ourselves, filed the application in August, and waited. And waited, and waited. This March, we received a letter requesting additional information, and after a few phone calls and a written response to the request, our application was approved!
All of us on the Board are very excited to begin this new chapter in our Organization’s history, and we hope you are, as well!
Labels: announcement
posted by Swing Des Moines at
9:16 PM
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