Tornado Donation Fund is on website

[AnneS]

Much thanks to our web gurus Robert & Steve for making this happen in short order. I will respond as soon as I can to the economics issues asked about by BetsyS in the FRFF 2009 topic in FRFF Talk. Meanwhile here is the Fund Info:

Falcon Ridge 2008 Tornado Fund

We are gratefully accepting any and all donations by mail or PayPal to get us thru the current crisis.

You can mail in donations by check made to "Falcon Ridge Folk Festival" and mailed to:

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
POB 144
Sharon, CT 06069

Donations made through PayPal are also accepted. If you have a PayPal account, the e-mail address to use for donations is: donate@FalconRidgeFolk.com

There is also a DONATE button on our website

Or you can use this link

Falcon Ridge 2008 Tornado Fund

Thanks, Anne

[Dennis]

Have you checked if this is legal?

I did a quick Google check on "charitable contributions New York law" to see if there was anything obvious on this. There are tons of regulations on how non-profits can solicit contributions and use them, but it doesn't mention for-profit organizations at all.

I'm going to guess that it's probably not legal for for-profits to solicit funds like this. I could be wrong, but presumably along with the priviledge of soliciting funds from the public, comes the responsibility of a public accounting of how it is spent.

If FRFF is lucrative, then bad weather like this is just one of those known risks of business. Most businesses have their bad years. GM just lost a few billion dollars, but that doesn't make it reasonable for them to start having bake sales, and competing with "real" charities.

If FRFF is NOT lucrative, then perhaps this is a good time to consider non-profit status. That would provide more opportunity to seek out grants and donations to keep it running.

Dennis Kolva
Ithaca, NY

[john r]

i have not researched this, but i do not think there is anything illegal in giving money to someone or to a corporation. not-for-profits are regualted because you can take a tax deduction. obviously, for something like this you cannot, nd the state or federal governments do not give a damn what you do with your money. for example - you can contribute to a scholarship fund that is simly a private bank account for the child of a friend who has passed away. that is totally outside of any regulation or requirmement.

if i want to give money to FR, there is nothing to stop me from doing it.

[PaulC]

One thing I don't think anyone would want is the federal government having any say over FRFF. Look what a mess the country is in fiscally just for starters.

[john r]

not-for-prfits are regulated by states - you file for 501c3 status with them and follow their reporting regs.

[Dennis]

Anyone can voluntarily donate money to anyone, but that's not the point.

FRFF is soliciting donations. I'm not a legal expert, but presumably there are a whole bunch of state laws and regulations to fight scam charities, and some of those laws may apply in this case, too.

Obviously this is not a scam, but because of the for-profit status of FRFF, I think it would be very wise for someone to check this out with a lawyer. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I'd hate to see the fest get into trouble for not following the rules.

Selling tornado T-shirts would be something else, of course. That's just commerce.

Dennis Kolva
Ithaca, NY

[john r]

FR is NOT a charity. there are no charitable deductions. this is not regulated in any fashion. if it were a charity it would be regulated. but it is NOT.

[PaulC]

Anyone can voluntarily donate money to anyone, but that's not the point.

FRFF is soliciting donations. I'm not a legal expert, but presumably there are a whole bunch of state laws and regulations to fight scam charities, and some of those laws may apply in this case, too.

Obviously this is not a scam, but because of the for-profit status of FRFF, I think it would be very wise for someone to check this out with a lawyer. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I'd hate to see the fest get into trouble for not following the rules.

Selling tornado T-shirts would be something else, of course. That's just commerce.

Dennis Kolva
Ithaca, NY

updated 7:24 p.m. ET, Thurs., July. 31, 2008

Fueled by a record surge in oil prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25945136/

Somehow I think Falcon Ridge is safe from being prosecuted

[jkpolk]

FRFF is soliciting donations. I'm not a legal expert, but presumably there are a whole bunch of state laws and regulations to fight scam charities, and some of those laws may apply in this case, too.

I do think it's a bit different. They're not soliciting donations from the populace at large. They're soliciting donations from folks who are already customers, who have expressed a desire to help, who have a vested interest in the festival surviving so that we may be customers again.

As long as people aren't trying to take it as a tax writeoff I think there is not a real need for concern. We just want our festival back next year.

[pat]

"We just want our festival back next year.[/quote]"

amen to that!

[fran1948]

If there are any problems with these donations, just consider them ticket surcharges or prepayment for next year. It seems that when there is destruction such as what happened during the storm, people can make donations to private entities, such as what happened in New Orleans. Some people donated money to help small restaurants, which were presumably for-profit pre-Katrina, to get back in business. So what's the difference? I see none. And in terms of soliciting for donations...It's no different, in my mind than selling tickets for 2009 or selling t-shirts on-line, or, for that matter, selling CDs on MySpace!

Just my humble opinion...

[betsys]

While I'd still like to see some numbers, I don't think there's anything illegal about contributing to a for-profit operation (for-profit as in business, not necessarily as in making money). It's illegal if you misrepresent what the money is going for, but nobody's made *any* promises here. The website just says the money will "get us through the current crisis." I assume and trust that it's going directly to pay past or future festival bills, but there's no real obligation here to let people know.

There was an ice cream business in Cambridge which didn't pay property taxes for several years and then solicited money from customers to pay their taxes. *That* was legal. And they didn't have the excuse of bad weather wrecking business, either, they just plain didn't pay attention to their books.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/ne ... 1295940537

(no, I didn't give *them* any money)

[TyteFystedFolkie]

Think of donations as TIPs.....To Insure (festival) Preservation.

[TyteFystedFolkie]

[quote="PaulC"]One thing I don't think anyone would want is the federal government having any say over FRFF. Look what a mess the country is in fiscally just for starters.[/quote]

It depends. If the feds can give us a break from N&K and EFO, I'm all in favor of their involvement.

[rye]

Please remember that Falcon Ridge takes place in NY but is located in CT.\
Non-profits in CT can solicit funds but must track who and how much. And you can not take it off your taxes unless you get a letter from FRFF thanking you for your donation. Nothing illegal about asking for money, but I would like to know what it is being used for.