How is your bee club set up?

[BjornBee]

I was at the bank asking about some things, and the conversation about association and clubs came up. I had made the comment about if it was possible to open an account for a bee group, without going through the hassles of fictitious name registration, 501(c) filing etc. She assured me that any account other than a personal account, would need to be set up as a business, or follow the guidelines of an association and required to file for federal tax exemption status, EIN, etc.

I never really thought about it. So are all bee associations filing tax reports or have tax exemption status, etc. I just kind of thought that they collected annual dues, placed them in a bank account, and payed what they needed. But how can one even get a bank account for a club such as "First County Bee Assoc." without jumping through the many hoops?

Please PM if you want. Not opening any cans of worms. Just wanting some personal information for my own use. Two counties close by do not have bee clubs, and another beek had asked me what would be involved and how to go about it. Any information would be helpful.

Thank you.

[bigbearomaha]

Not all non-profit organizations are or have to be registered as a 501c3. Which is the status that allows people to deduct donations to said organization on their taxes.

There are more simple filings incorporating a group as a non-profit organization that will allow you to obtain an EIN and a local tax ID # without seeking the more difficult to obtain 501c3 status.

You just will not be able to tell people they can deduct their donations on their taxes is all.

Also, many banks will open an account under a persons name listed as a DBA ( Doing Business As)

Sometimes, local existing non-profits can be approached and are agreeable to 'hosting' a bank acct for your group under their tax ID #.

There are many options.

Big Bear

[BjornBee]

Big Bear,
Are you talking about (when you mention "more simple filings") other catagories under 501(c) status such as 501(c)7 which is for "social clubs"? Or is this just the same hassle as all other 501(c)'s?

Thank you for your input.

[bigbearomaha]

Well, I am not an expert at gov't docs,  I have worked in the not for profit arena for a long time and talked to some of the accounting people therein.

I don't know of any gov't paperwork that is 'simple'  I do know some of the other filings  (like those you mention) do not require as much as the 501c3 requires.  So  I probably should have said simpler relative to to what is required by the 501c3 filing, heh heh.

For example, for a number of years, I was on a local community group/board that was responsible for planning an annual parade/celebration.

Because I never learned to keep my mouth shut,  I ended up as chairperson for the board and co-chair as well.

As our group was small and often changed officers from one year to the next, one local community 501c3 non profit organization offered to act as a financial 'host' for us and all of our banking was done under accounts they set up for our purpose, under their auspices.  They were very good about respecting our boards authority in terms of how money was accounted for and handled and stayed out of it pretty much completely.   Such hands off support was very much appreciated by our board.

Perhaps if there were a nature organization or existing community non profit that shared an interest in beekeeping   ( perhaps under the interests of teaching kids new skills, prevention activities or even the psych/social benefits of stress relief, self determination, etc.. of a local counseling/public services group might see themselves as a 'host' for your beekeeping group.

I wish  I could be more specific, but I have about tapped the last active brain cells  I have remaining to remember this much.

hope it helps.

Big Bear