In a previous blog post I mentioned that I, then, taught a management and leadership of the nonprofit sector course. Honestly, the course scratches the surface; it is impossible to cover everything there is to know about the nonprofit sector in one semester especially when also needing to talk about overall management and leadership. There are management (like) majors. There are leadership courses. There are nonprofit couses. Imagine fitting all of that into one semester. Every semester I received feedback from students that they thought I would and should go deeper into the subject and while I attempted through the sharing of lived experience, there were parts that we just would not get to without leaving those behind who had no experience or awareness, at all, of the nonprofit sector. It was a balancing act, for sure.
Separate of teaching, I have worked in and out of the nonprofit sector; here, in-person, I would typically say "... and education" but most know, higher education institutions are nonprofit organizations - I digress... Being in direct support roles of students, AmeriCorps members, volunteers, etc., I often made tax-exempt purchases and often forgot to take the appropriate documentation. Although I would forget to take the paperwork, I knew it was there and available, but I was never the person who had to apply for the Form ST-2 or Form ST-5. Meryl's Safe Haven was incorporated and recognized as a 501c3 organization in January of this year and since I've never had to go through the process of applying/completing the forms, it did not cross my mind as something we needed to do or have on our radar. What an oversight!
AVOID THIS MISTAKE AND DELAY!
As soon as you receive your tax exemption notification from the federal government, do yourself and your organization a favor by creating the necessary account and completing the process for your ST-2 and/or your ST-5 forms. The process can be quick, but there's nothing like realizing you need something you don't have in the moment you need it. Fortunately, it dawned on me while setting up a business account - nothing extreme, but realizing I could have completed this step/task in January made me think others might want to know this as well.
Comments