Hey All,
I’m looking for rules regarding outside sponsorships at the space. If anyone from the Electronics group has info on how they handled the big donation of the work benches in there, I’d love to pick your brain. Also, if you know of anything in the bylaws about it, or how we can show a sponsor’s name, please chime in!
-ian
This is all I’ve found so far:
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Sponsorships
Looking for what kinds of materials we can bring to a potential sponsor when I go visit.
That is some old information. I’m tagging the @PR_Team for input.
Thanks. Figured as much.
The BoD would have to approve the use of our corporate name or logo - unless they’ve specifically authorized someone to do that.
The donation from Mouser was the first of its kind. If something like that comes up again there are things about it that I’d handle differently.
There are laws regarding sponsorship of a non profit corporation but I’m not aware of any rules or procedures at the organization level.
I was looking into getting a sponsorship for our sewing machine needs awhile back. After a good discussion with @Adam_Oas we decided to pull the plug. It came down to the idea of being restricted and how much real energy and time I was willing to put in (plus the energy of others).
just my .02
Like?
What do you mean being restricted?
Essentially, I’m looking at a couple of local stores that might have a vested interest in the brewing committee, and I’m thinking about putting their logo / name on some of the equipment if they were to make a donation. But something that would be ‘temporary’ in that it would only last a year or so before they’d have to re-up.
Well it was all restrictions we could anticipate coming. It’s all a give and take. I wanted 5 sewing machines. I was willing to give them x,y,z… And it was the discussion of what that x,y,z could/should be.
Say we were gifted all brother sewing machines from that company. How far and long would that branding last. That could tie up some potential other options for us. Would we need to be exclusive with this new company or could we have a different embroidery machine if we wanted.
All this went back and forth and we just decided to split the cost with the board and ask for approval for spending to not deal with any of our imagined restrictions/obligations. Time is valuable and I felt much of our efforts might not blossom.
But I’m not saying it wouldn’t work. I think many many many companies would be scratching down the door if they only knew the audience they received. It’s sweat equity on your part. I would do some research about the rules for a non-profit and corporate sponsorship. It seems harmless - but rules Can get wonky.
OK, finding some info on my own this morning, and it looks like what I’m trying to do should be all good.
and
from (http://www.michigantaxblog.com/Corporate-Sponsorships-501c3-Organization) we get:
So how does a charity avoid UBI tax liability from corporate sponsorships? One way is to fall under a safe harbor provision in the tax code called a “qualified sponsorship payment.” A qualified sponsorship payment is a payment made by a business where there is no expectation of a substantial return benefit, other than the use or acknowledgement of the name or logo of the trade or business. Contrast this to taxable advertising, which goes further by communicating qualitative or comparative language, price information, endorsements, or an inducement to buy or sell any product or service. The communication may occur on the charity’s website, for instance, or via links on the charity’s website to the sponsoring business’s website.
(Emphasis mine)
Simply putting their names / logo on one of our boil pots should not fall into the “expectation of a substantial return benefit…” Im guessing that they may donate $1K and a few members may go out and buy some grain or small equipment from them.
But I’m still looking to someone who has done this because of this:
The rules in this area are nuanced. We recommend that charities consider retaining an attorney who specializes in tax-exempt law to review sponsorship programs prior to accepting any sponsorship payments.
-Ian