I got back from GUADEC and was ecstatic to find a letter from the IRS saying that Kids on Computers is officially a US federal 501(c)(3) organization!!!
It’s retroactive to February 25, 2009. (We have been a Colorado nonprofit since our start but this gives us federal status.)
Having 501(c)(3) status will enable us to qualify for more grants and programs targeted at nonprofit organizations. It also helps establish people’s trust (they know you are doing a public good) and enables some people to deduct their donation from the money they pay taxes on.
Stormy Peters works at AWS on open source strategy and communities. She has spent her career at GitHub, Microsoft, Red Hat, Mozilla, and the GNOME Foundation building the programs and communities that help people be successful with open source software. She speaks regularly on open source, community strategy, and developer relations. Find her speaking history and past talks at stormyscorner.com/speaking.