Re: GNOME Foundation 501(c)3 status

[Magdalen Berns <m berns thismagpie com>]

I've seen this mentioned previously on this list as well, and I'm
curious how that happened.

There is an interesting blog about these things which is worth a read (seems a little like some rule tightening has gone on and perhaps caught a few organisations unaware, but it's hard to say what's happened at this stage).[1] 

I would also suggest that this should be the top priority issue for the
GNOME Foundation to fix. 

Likewise.

Is the current Board already working to fix this?

A quick search shows GNOME is still listed on the IRS website as being in good standing:

http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/pub78Search.do?ein1=&names=GNOME&city=&state=All...&country=US&deductibility=all&dispatchMethod=searchCharities&submitName=Search

 

(actually I think you'll need to redo your own search)

Unfortunately, it is delinquent according to the California Department of Justice (you may need to redo your own search to get it to come up there too).[2,3] It might be worth getting in touch with them directly about this because according to the Department of Justice, they have not received copies of the IRS Form 990 for the fiscal years ending 9/30/2009, 9/30/2011, 9/30/2012 and 9/30/2013 and the Annual Registration Renewal Fee Report (RRF-1) and IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ending 9/30/2014 were due on February 15, 2015, as well.

Magdalen

[1] https://blogs.gnome.org/jnelson/2014/06/30/the-new-501c3-and-the-future-of-free-software-in-the-united-states

[2] http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Details.aspx?agency_id=1&license_id=1043846&

[3] http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Search.aspx?facility=Y