momof3byz - I'm not clear on your question. Are you referring the sample Articles of Organization that the IRS provides in Publication 557.

Here's a link to the HTML version of 557 . Maybe you can cut/paste the parts for which you have questions.

I am the Pres. of our PTO which is a 501 (c)3 but has never incorporated. I know I will need to refile for the non-profit afterwards but what I am confused about right now is that I have read through many of these discussions and keep seeing that I need to type WORD for WORD paragraphs 3, 5 and 7 from the sample article in Pub. 557. Well I found the sample article and I found paragraphs 3 and 5 but is paragraph 7 actually the one titled SIXTH? I know I can do this without paying an attorney but I just want to make sure I'm looking at the right stuff. Since you have survived this whole process I thought I would ask you. Thanks for any help!!

Thanks for jumping on that post, JHB. It kind of slipped through the cracks.

And thanks for the kind words, Phil. I'm quite sure your good work and your group's efforts are far more responsible for your good results than what we've provided on the site. But I'm glad we've (this big community) helped.

And JHB's right. I hope you'll "pay it forward" by offering your own insight when you can.

Tim

Congrats to you and thanks for posting. On the Forum we get a lot of the questions, the problems, the "beginning" of the stories. But we don't always get to hear how things ended.

It's nice to hear how it turned out.

P.S. The fact that you succeeded (and even more so that you admitted to it!) now makes you a "resident expert" and in a position to help others. Have fun!

[ 06-10-2005, 07:09 PM: Message edited by: JHB ]

I have been meaning to do this for quite some time.

Long story short: In Sept 2003 the MacArthur School PTO (Waltham MA) was notified we were improperly using the City’s tax number and we embarked on a path to become a legally recognized Non-Profit Organization with both the IRS (under 501(c)(3)) and with the State of Massachusetts.

I am pleased to report that this month we received the final approval from the state – so we are a fully legal Non-Profit Organization and MA State Public Charity supporting the students, parents and staff of the MacArthur Elementary School. This has taken considerably longer that it really needed to, however, we took our time because we were the first PTO in the city to attempt the daunting amount of paperwork involved so we wanted to get it right the first time, and because it gave us an opportunity to rethink how we should operate.

As Treasurer and Chair of the Non-Profit committee, one of the main sources I turned to was the PTO Today web site, where I reviewed lots of information and experiences – some good, some cautionary, all helpful. We did everything we needed to do – from getting an EIN, to applying to the IRS, to getting State approvals – and PTO Today was a source continually consulted.

By far, the longest part of the process was generating a formal Charter for the PTO (IRS calls this Articles of Organization) describing how we were to organize and what we could (and could not do) in support of our objective. We took the opportunity to rethink everything about the PTO, from our relationship to the school administration, to membership, to elections, even including what happens if we eventually go out of business (which we hope will never happen!). In this part of the process, we relied on the PTO Today site for sample charters – special thanks to Sallie Cone PTO in Conway, AR, the Pioneer PTO in Colorado Springs, CO, and the Riverbend PTO in Juneau Alaska (all URLs have been moved else the links would be included). The end result is our Charter, which is posted here ( MacArthur School (Waltham MA) PTO Charter ).

Beyond the approval of the charter, we had a volunteer CPA help us with the actual IRS forms (Form 1023) and the state forms. IRS approval only took 2 months from the time of application. This is testament to the hard work of our volunteer parents, the assistance of the CPA, and the information contained on PTO Today.

As I said, we have successfully completed what we set out to do. I hope our Charter will provide another PTO a leg up on the process. And thank you to PTO Today for pointing in the right direction.