New York SBDC Research Network

Hybrid Organizations, also called Social Enterprises or Social Ventures, are organized to include a for profit business with a non for profit entity. Hybrid corporations usually consist of a charitable organization that has established a related way to earn revenue. For example a company, Toms , sells shoes and for every shoe they sell they will send a pair to children in need in a different country.  So what is a hybrid organization? The Social Entrepreneurship Spectrum: Hybrids  (Inc., May 2011) Entrepreneurs And The 'Hybrid' Organization  (Forbes, August 2013 Research finds rising numbers of 'hybrid organizations' across sectors  (Devex Impact, June 2013) In Search of the Hybrid Ideal  (Stanford Social Innovation Review Summer 2012) Low-profit limited liability company  (Wikipedia) - This link provides a summary of a new legal business structure for hybrid organizations.  A L3C is currently only available in 9 states, with legislation proposed in 26 more.  

Thanks to a comment in a previous post, I've discovered that the IRS is offering transitional relief for small revoked NFP groups. As the letter writer notes, "If you can honestly say there is still a need for your non-profit, and you feel you can muster the human and other resources needed to sustain it, don't pass up this opportunity to regain your tax exempt status." Fill out a new exemption application and pay an IRS User Fee. But for organizations with annual gross receipts normally less than $50,000, the User Fee will be reduced to only $100 and reinstatement will be retroactive. The offer is only good through December 31, 2012. You can find the details here [PDF] .

The IRS has published the first Automatic Revocation of Exemption List . It indicates approximately 275,000 nonprofits whose tax-exempt status has been revoked because they failed to file a Form 990, 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990-PF for three consecutive years; the list is available for downloading in both Excel and PDF form. Here's the PDF of the New York State list . As GuideStar notes , if an organization appears on the list, it must now must file a federal income tax return and pay federal income taxes. If it previously could accept tax-deductible contributions, it no longer can do so. "If your organization is not on the list, technically you don't have to do anything. This a good time, however, to reach out to your donors, funders, and other constituents and assure them that you are in good standing with the IRS. You may also wish to suggest that your supporters consult the list to ensure that the other nonprofits they give to are still exempt."

On May 17, 2010, the IRS begins the process of revoking tax-exempt status from nonprofits that failed to file three consecutive annual returns (Form 990-N, 990-EZ, 990, or 990-PF). "A large number of these organizations are smaller nonprofits that previously were not required to file an annual return because their gross revenues were $25,000 or less. These nonprofits now must file Form 990-N, which the IRS created in response to the Pension Protection Act" of 2006. Read more about these upcoming changes HERE .

Now that the Research Network has a membership with Hill Library , I decided to take some of the free classes they've offered. One dealt with finding information about companies. Here are a few tips, some of which you know about, I'm sure. PUBLIC COMPANIES Reference USA database (available from Hill on a trial basis, but also found at many public libraries) Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers SEC/EDGAR ; if you don't know the stock market ticker symbol, check the CIK, for there may be several companies with similar names Big Charts - US and Canadian stock market wsjie.com - articles Annual reports (lots of sources on the Internet, many of them free); I found the Financial Times site easy to use Company websites Periodicals PRIVATE COMPANIES D&B, Hoovers Secretary of State of the state in which the company is incorporated Secretary of State association site www.nass.org . (Incidentally, the NASS has 2008 Presidental primary information , as well as a regional Presidential

We have a print directory in our collection that provides contact information for nonprofit organizations around the U.S. It would be an ideal resource if it were only available online somewhere. Its layout makes identifying nonprofits in a given area a very cumbersome task. There are websites that provide this information, though they have their limitations, too. I recently suggested to an advisor that his client check out what I consider to be the best of this bunch: http://www.idealist.org/if/as/Org/npo As you'll see, the search feature gives you the option of searching by state/province, city/town, postal code, and "area of focus". Use of any or all of these fields can be used to create a pretty targeted list of NFPs in a given geographic area. Once you get your results, the name of each NFP is hyperlinked to a page with more complete contact information. Precision searching is a priority here. For example, I did a search of all NFPs in New York, and found 5,56