It has always made me grimace to hear folks say that we can’t make money, because we’re a non-profit. Here’s part of a general definition of a “public charity”
"Normally receive more than 1/3 of their support from contributions, membership fees, and GROSS RECEIPTS FROM ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THEIR EXEMPT FUNCTIONS **, and not more than 1/3 of their support from gross investment income and net unrelated business income.
Since we’re organized as an educational non-profit, activities related to our exempt functions could include fees for classes. I am not advocating that we start charging significant fees (more that $5-20/student), but it wouldn’t impact our non-profit status. And, if we consider selling T-shirts as “unrelated business income”, we’d have to sell a boatload before we hit the 1/3 mark.