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All the paperwork is in at the IRS requesting our tax exempt status. At first I though: What is all of the fuss about?" I submitted the one page EZ form, sat back in my chair thinking this was going to be so much easier than everyone suggests. But then, the agent assigned to our application contacted me and needed something like 26 pages of documents and answers to specific questions about our new nonprofit, and why we qualify for tax exemption.
The funny thing is that I really enjoyed the process of answering all of those questions. I learned so much. The exercise made me consider a whole host of issues I had never even thought of. Of course we needed to provide our bylaws and incorporation documents, but there were also questions like... how do we know that people who are donating to our nonprofit aren't laundering money, or criminal enterprises? It never even occurred to me that was a thing. As it turns out, there are published databases from the federal government, the European Union, and the United Nations that list people, organizations, and nations that are sanctioned. So simple to check, once you know that you should. So the answers to each of these unexpected questions have turned into the first entries into our new policy manual.
My board has done some planning, some goal setting, and tried to create just the type of organization we need to meet our mission and vision. There are just so many more moving parts than I was aware of. That makes me wonder how many more surprises I will encounter tomorrow. But that's all part of this phase of the organization's history, right? It turns out that the current delay in our IRS application is proving quite beneficial to us after all. The success of our nonprofit will be inextricably bound to our success as strategic planners. It's all in the planning...
I did a little research into the rate of failure among nonprofits. So, so many well intentioned fledgling NGOs fail due to lack of clarity, leadership, and organization. We are spending so much time thinking about the organization, and how it is being set up, that we can easily lose sight of the real reason for the nonprofit to begin with. No one wants to give money to our organization. Donors want to fund a particular program, that has real measurable impact, run by professionals who can deliver the services promoted. They want to give to Romanian artists in need, not to an NGO. We're just setting up a pathway to connect the two. It's vital that I not let the unlimited details of setting up a wonderful organization cloud that reality.
I spoke to Aimee Woodall, the director of an advertising firm here in Houston called Black Sheep Agency. Now both Aimee and I know we can't afford her services yet, but she was kind enough to give me a half hour or so of her time to talk about our nonprofit, and our trajectory moving forward. What I like so much about Black Sheep is that they work with nonprofits, and are very selective about which organizations they take on as clients. Her willingness to chat with me was not only a great honor, but also a marvelous opportunity to learn. One of the first things Aimee asked me, after I gave her my elevator speech, was "Why does anyone in Houston want to give money to an artist in Romania?" Oddly, that particular question had never come up in our board meetings, nor was it outlined in our mission and vision. I think I had a good answer to her question, but perhaps not a great answer. My response was that art patrons want to have a direct relationship and connection to artists. They want to become part of the creator's world, follow their careers, and collect their work. Aripa Arte gives collectors access to a reservoir of talented artists they may never have known about otherwise. Our programs and projects will find ways to connect these two groups, to the mutual benefit of both. That one conversation with Aimee shook me awake. There is so much more planning, word-smithing, and marketing we need to have prepared before we launch ourselves to potential funding sources.
So the planning continues, though I hope at a little higher level now than before. We are reaching out to Romanian artists, galleries, art organizations and schools to better define what the specific needs exist, and how to form programs to address those needs. We've launched our website, obtained emails and domain names... all in an effort to look as professional as possible. We need both artists and funders to know that we are professional, and legitimate. Who would have expected that a period of waiting would be this welcome and productive. While I am desperate to have our application approved, I'm enjoying the extra time to strategize; the extra time to learn.
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