This is to update the status of items discussed at our Ontario Reunion meeting. It is also to provide advance background on the issues that should be discussed and decided at our upcoming reunion in San Antonio.
ELECTION OF GROUP OFFICERS:
Using the draft Article of Association as a guide we conducted an election whereon the following officers were selected: Cris Hamilton – President, Mario Candia – 1st Vice President, Joe Coleman – 2nd Vice President, Marge Barshaw & Susan Diomedes – Joint-Secretary, Mike Daniels – Treasurer. Mike Potochick, Herb Cintron, Jim Pearson & Willie Best – Members-at-large. President Cris Hamilton and Treasurer Mike Daniels have assumed their duties. The others will begin their two-year duties at the upcoming reunion. Jim Pearson – Webmaster; Jose Lopez – Newsletter have agreed to continue in those roles.
FINANCIAL & LEGAL:
Established DBAs (Doing Business As) for USAF Combat Camera Assn. in California and Florida and applied for and received an EIN (Employee Identification Number) from the IRS. These two actions were necessary to establish our USAF Combat Camera Association checking account at Bank of America.
NON-PROFIT STATUS:
I did research on the Pros & Cons of a non-profit (503 (c) (19) designation for our group. I spoke with Jim Elmer and Bob Koehne both members of other reunion organizations with non-profit 503 (c) status. I also spoke with past and current presidents of NANP (National Association of Naval Photographers) who have a history as a non-profit (503) (c) entity. This is what I gathered from these conversations.
NON-PROFIT STATUS REQUIREMENTS:
- Articles of Association: We have drafted Articles of Association, which can be used with or without going to non-profit status. Copies of the Articles will be available for review at the reunion.
- Fill out and file an application using Form 1024 Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501 (a)
- Establish a website – DONE
- Secure an EIN from IRS – DONE
- Association checking account – DONE
- Membership dues for our members. Only if we have non-profit status.
- Yearly requirement and important! Send a E990 post card to IRS to retain status. The treasurer of NANP failed to do this and they lost their non-profit status. Re-establishing is difficult and has taken a lot of time.
- Accountant to handle the tax issues with IRS
POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF NON-PROFIT STATUS
- Anyone or business contributing money to our Group would receive a tax deduction
- Status (Bragging Rights) for the Group. According to NANP officer this is the main reason many organizations want a non-profit.
- Group members could not write off hotel taxes since they are state imposed
- Stamps for mailing to the membership would be tax-deductible. However in today’s world of emails, and other digital media we use little or no “snail mail”
- Establishing & maintaining a non-profit is time consuming
- NANP has the same problems we have, namely although they have 125-150 attend their reunions, only about 40 are active in the organization and fewer than that are willing to actively assist in the organization. Our group has the same problem, we have had over 150 from our roster attend reunions in the past however we have very few who are willing to be involved other then attending the reunions!
- At our last reunion quite a few members indicated they like the current system, which is basically; show up at the reunion and socialize with old friends. This is not bad but it means we are left with a very small group of the same individuals who would have to continue to assume the responsibilities associated with a non-profit organization.
- There are other options to getting our own non-profit status. NANP is considering changing their name to a generic DoD Combat Camera Assn. and has invited us to join and have joint reunions? USAF Airlifters Assn. has also invited us to join them at their annual reunions.
- We could retain the “status quo”, keep the Articles of Association and the elected officers. However without the non-profit requirements we may want to change/reduce the slate of officers.
COMBAT CAMERA EXHIBIT:
No active progress on this initiative.
- The AF Museum indicated that they would consider giving us an “on-line” exhibit on their website. If we want to pursue this, we will need volunteers to take on this project
- The collecting and housing of Combat Camera memorabilia. Many of our members have combat camera memorabilia they would willingly donate to our group. However before we do that, we need again to have someone head up the project and provide a storage facility to house the items until we place them in a suitable location.
We solicit your inputs and suggestions on listed issues and any other issues you may want to introduce at the San Antonio reunion.
Looking forward to seeing and socializing with all of you in October.
– Ken Hackman