Background on the six year saga leading up to the triumphal event, by Maggie Wolfe
There we were, the AEOE board, all merrily doing our volunteer AEOE thing from 1954 to 2000, all assuming we were nonprofit, and official and all that. A bunch of well-meaning volunteers that didn’t really know much about that sort of thing – naturalists helping naturalists, and all that good stuff. It didn’t really matter, since our conferences up until 1999 were not that big, and didn’t bring in that much money – our operating budget for the organization was small enough not to matter for tax reporting purposes. That all changed in 1999 when Northern AEOE and Donal Wilkinson created a new trend with the conference at Sly Park, which was larger than any previous conference, and made an effort to draw attendees from beyond the outdoor school base. They set the bar quite high, and ever since, our conferences have gotten not just bigger, but better, as we strive to keep that essential balance between the small community feel of the outdoor school naturalist “tribe” and managing our growth and outreach to get the word out about outdoor environmental education to a wider audience while still keeping true to our roots.
The discovery...
In 2000, I (Maggie) was coordinating the Keynote Speakers and Workshop presenters, and since we were flying Cliff Knapp out from Illinois, I thought it would be great if we could get funding for transportation. I started doing research and the airlines wanted our EIN (employer identification number) and determination letter (whatever that was) from the IRS. Well, after some emails, it seemed no one had our determination letter on file, and we had at least TWO different EINs! So I figured a call to the IRS would straighten this right out. The IRS representative was very nice, but could find NO record of AEOE, AOE, Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education, or any similar sounding organization ever having nonprofit status with the IRS! She said not to worry – sometimes we could just drop off the active list if there had been no activity for a long time... But no one had any record of us being official with the IRS – we were official with the state of California, but not the Feds.
Starting to make it official
After this alarming discovery, we decided (probably at the September 2000 State Executive Board meeting and Vision Session, where we started the ball rolling on a lot of things) that we should pursue this and make it happen. Debbie Carraway, then our State Coordinating Secretary, took on the heroic task of researching ways to get our 501(c)(3) status, compiling forms, information, applications, records, and attending training sessions with groups for nonprofits, and learning all about nonprofits. She prepared a very thorough report, and found out enough to scare the daylights out of her... Worried that she, as an officer of the board, could be held personally liable for AEOE’s back taxes should it come to that, she regretfully stepped down from her position, though stayed involved in an advisory capacity. I was State President at the time, and a little worried myself, but hadn’t been to the trainings and read all the books that Debbie had, and being somewhat blindly optimistic and always having considered myself lucky, decided to stay on. Ha. We considered the suggestion that we formally disband AEOE and reincorporate with a new name, starting over with all the correct paperwork in place. We rejected that idea, even though it would have probably been easier, and less scary in terms of liability - all that history was too hard to walk away from. We decided, however, that we needed professional help (maybe in more ways that one!), and began to research getting a lawyer to help us with the process.
Professional Help
Our first meeting with the lawyer is easy to recall – it was on September 11, 2001. Yep – THAT September 11th. I had spent the night at Michael Charnofsky’s mom’s house down in LA, so we could go to the morning meeting with the Lawyer, Lisa Runquist, in Toluca Lake. We all, of course, woke up to the horror of the Twin Towers crumbling in ruin... I remember my first words to Michael’s mom when I woke up were “you’re kidding!” How stupid - as if anyone would joke about such a tragedy. But disbelief in the face of such an event is understandable, I suppose. Michael and I decided to meet with the lawyer anyway, since we were already down in LA, and watching the events unfold over and over on TV wasn’t going to help anyone, anyway. We were all in a bit of shock, but I think actually doing something productive probably helped us deal with that day much better than anything else could have, and it was for a very good cause.
Work to be done
The lawyer gave us lots to do – records to gather, forms to fill in – oh, and we needed to consolidate our budget, restructure the board, and re-write our bylaws! Sheesh. At the State Executive Board Meeting up in Sonora in November 2001, we worked out a lot of issues – created a new governing board structure, and Zayanne Gardner Thompson was made Statewide treasurer, now to be called CFO (Chief Financial Officer). We agreed to get Dan Allison to help with re-writing the articles of incorporation and the bylaws rather than using the standard form that the lawyer used for nonprofits. Zayanne began working on consolidating the books to change the way we handled the budget – from the top down instead of the sections, with more oversight and accountability, and with meticulous records (which we, as naturalists, we weren’t all that great at keeping at times!) Having consistent, statewide budget policies and records were one of the most important steps to getting our nonprofit status, and thankfully, Zayanne was willing to step up to the responsibility and has stayed with us as CFO ever since.
At the 2002 State Executive Board meeting in Wrightwood, Dan presented us with a draft of our new bylaws, which we voted on, Zayanne pushed us toward ever great financial accountability and consistency, and we inched toward our goal. But we needed 4 years of financial records, kept in the correct format for nonprofit status. More work to be done to reformat the Northern books and consolidate them into one statewide ledger.
Our all-volunteer board sometimes has difficulty finding time between their full (and often MORE than full) time jobs and personal lives to meet in in person, so the following year (2003) we met via teleconference, and read, revised, and gave final approval for the new bylaws. Another hurdle was crossed! We also voted to eliminate section treasurers altogether now that the treasury was unified, and that way it would be easier to keep consistent records.
Finally done! Maybe...
After all this work over a few years, we finally had everything we needed in place, Zayanne turned everything in to the lawyers in February, and we waited... And waited... And after a discussion with the attorneys found that we had “fallen through the cracks” so they finally got started on it in May 2004. Which meant Zayanne had to update all the conference budget items (her biggest job) again for Fiscal Year 2004. We hoped to have our official 501(c)(3) status sometime in early 2005.
In the meanwhile... With the nonprofit work done (so we thought) we were able to concentrate on the Strategic Plan and AEOE Vision, Debbie headed up the strategic plan committee, we got input from our members through a survey process, we crafted a new mission statement, and now have a draft vision statement and strategic plan on the website, along with our first core values statement, thanks to the inclusivity committee. And of course, our main work as volunteer board members during all this time was to plan, coordinate, and present excellent conferences and outings, publish our newsletters, keep building our services to members through the website and outreach.
Back to the nonprofit saga – we were still waiting. Zayanne had to update for another year, and finally it was all turned in to the IRS! Then we got a notice that “additional” information was needed – information we ~knew~ was in our VERY thorough application!! Perhaps it had gotten lost along the way. Now we were given only a few weeks to come up with the “missing” information!! We scrambled, got an extension at the last minute, and were able to get everything together to RE-submit to the IRS for approval and began waiting again. Three months later and it’s official – we finally have our 501(c)(3) status with the IRS!!!
Victory!!
This is HUGE!! After over 50 years of nonprofit work for California's Environmental and Outdoor Educators, AEOE finally has official 501(c)(3) status with the IRS!! This means donations are now tax deductible! We can qualify for nonprofit discounts, grants and funding! As you can see from the saga above, this is the result of a tremendous amount of volunteer work on the part of the AEOE Board over the last several years, but especially from our wonderful CFO, Zayanne Gardner Thompson!!
Congratulations AEOE and Thank You Zayanne!