Tag Archives: charity

Foundation posts list of causes seeking funding

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Each year Kitsap Community Foundation solicits grant requests, and each year it receives far more proposals than it can afford to fund.

To help bring exposure, and potentially dollars, to these local causes,  the foundation has posted 50 grant applications on its website for the public to view. Donors are invited to contribute to the campaigns of their choice.

kcf_logoThe proposals span all nonprofit fields, from arts and culture, to human services, health, the environment and education.

“Our mission is to connect people who care to causes that matter,” foundation Executive Director Kol Medina said in a news release.“By posting these grant applications online and encouraging the public to help fund them, we are directly completing our mission.”

Medina said the foundation received requests totaling $226,000, more than double the amount the foundation will be able to fund through its endowment.

Grant application summaries will be showcased on the foundation’s website through April 6. You can view the applications here, along with instructions for donating.

Kitsap Great Give, a 24-hour fundraising drive for local nonprofits, is scheduled for May 5.

Creating a nonprofit just got easier

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If you’ve been procrastinating on registering a charity as a nonprofit, your dilly-dallying is now justified.

The Internal Revenue Service just announced a streamlined process for applying for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The new Form 1023-EZ cuts the standard Form 1023 from 26 pages to three pages.

Up to 70 percent of charities qualify to use the EZ form, according to an IRS news release. Most groups with $50,000 or less in gross receipts and less than $250,000 in assets will be eligible.

The idea behind the form is to free up resources dedicated to approving small, simple charities, so more resources can be dedicated to reviewing larger, more complex organizations. The IRS has a backlog of about 60,000 501(c)(3) applications, with wait times of up to nine months.

“Previously, all of these groups went through the same lengthy application process — regardless of size,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in the release. “It didn’t matter if you were a small soccer or gardening club or a major research organization. This process created needlessly long delays for groups, which didn’t help the groups, the taxpaying public or the IRS.”

The Form 1023-EZ must be filed through pay.gov with a $400 user fee. Download this PDF for full details.

Photo: Lisa Horn of West Sound Wildlife Shelter releases a bald eagle. (Brad Camp / Olympic Photo Group)