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re: non-profit status



At 08:44 AM 1/8/99 EST, you wrote:
>We have been considering incorporating as a non-profit business (that pretty
>much describes us anyway!)   

Unless you have explicitly educational or charitable mission and methods,
you probably won't qualify as a non-profit in the eyes of the IRS.  If you
already have a formal educational component or if you donate half of your
harvest to a local food pantry, then it might make sense for you.  But if
you don't do these things, think through your farm mission and goals before
you add those things *in order* to qualify.  Several, if not many, farms
have found themselves overwhelmed by the demands of their non-farming
non-profit activities.

If you have a group of members who are interested in setting up and
sustaining an educational or charitable program, you may then fall into the
non-profit realm.  I believe a committee of members in partnership with the
farmers at Angelic Organics, in Caledonia, IL, is pursuing such an arrangement.

Best,

Sarah Milstein