I’ve been farting around for the better part of a year now with how to start a little fund or foundation. i keep trying to figure out the perfect way to do this, and in my search for perfection i simply end up pushing it further off into the future.
accordingly, what i’m thinking is to perform a fairly simple set of fund raisers that can be accomplished through our existing functionality. to that end, i’m thinking of doing the following:
you see these ads on the right hand side of the forum table. that column is about 2/3 as deep as it will be. the final 1/3 will consist of a poll, regularly updated, on a variety of topics. also, there will eventually be a list of knowledge-based articles “most-frequently-read” list using, let us say, one week’s worth of reader stat compilation. my thinking is to place one more ad at the bottom of this column, and have that ad’s revenues accrue in their entirety to the foundation’s account. what i’d want to do is leave this ad available for non-industry-players, those not among the industry’s “usual suspects.” their ads would be sold to them on the basis of what the market will bear, and will be placed in rotation in that spot. perhaps the advertiser is an RD who doesn’t typically advertise and who doesn’t compete with the typical industry players. or an attorney, or a hospital, anyone who’s not a competitor with the typical posse of advertisers who’re paying market rate.
then we’d have goods sold in our classifieds forum, and we’d provide an icon the seller could place on his post when the proceeds are going to the foundation or fund. we would solicit new items, from manufacturers and retailers, which would also be offered on the classifieds site, and the proceeds from those goods would go to the foundation. we’d sell blocs of entries to popular races on the classifieds. same thing, money goes to the fund.
this is where the lawyer comes in. we need somebody who’s not got his pro bono hours all earmarked. we need the 501c3, or its analog, set up. further, we’ll establish a fund board, who’ll vote to disburse the money as seems appropriate. the fund’s meetings will be held on a “forum” (of course), that is, i’ll set up a forum just for the fund’s board and managers, read/write password protected, and this board will decide what to do with the funds, and on the fund’s future.
i don’t see as it matters in what state this entity is domiciled. we’ll also need a fund manager, also a volunteer position. this person would simply make sure everybody who says he’s selling something with the proceeds going to the fund actually sends the proceeds to the fund. this person would have some intersection with the fund’s paypal account, so, please, if you’re a felon, have it be for a violent crime, not a white collar crime. i’m open for suggestions and volunteers.
Yes, in order to fit in you must have a few drunk in public charges, a huge four wheel drive pickup, and a vip card to at least two brothlels.
ps. We still have “the Dan” on our secret menu and has a few loyal customers (olive oil, diced tomato, garlic, basil). Should have some Discovery boys and Toyota United in tonight and tomorrow after the races.
“We still have “the Dan” on our secret menu and has a few loyal customers (olive oil, diced tomato, garlic, basil).”
jeez, i got to come up there. paul thomas and i are going to arrange a hillclimb “series,” palomar and our big climb, to be engaged in during the late sept time frame. if i ever get my fat ass in shape for these i want to come up and give geiger a go. back in the day, my PR was 35:50, from the 7-11 to the absolute top (not that first false top). i did one ride where i KNOW i beat that by a minute or more, but i didn’t have a clock on it, so 35:50 it is. this, of course, occurred in the late 70s.
There was just a big discussion of the Geiger record a few weeks ago amongst the Reno Wheelman via email. The reason why it came up was that Julich was at his house here and did a crit then the Geiger TT the next week. Here is a portion of the meat of the conversation. There is also the Mt Rose Verified race of Truth on July 4th each year. With the stories that are told about that climb, a group got together to have an official race with pretty good purse.
The current listed record for Geiger Grade is held by Greg Lemond at a time of approximately 27 minutes. The problem with this record is we have no corroborating evidence. As far as I know it wasn’t done as part of an event and may have been self timed by Greg himself. There is another time of 29 minutes set for Matt Newberry but that also doesn’t have any subtantiating evidence. Over the past several years to the best of my knowledge we have had no one even crack the 30 minute mark (until Tuesday that is). While I don’t want to take away from any accomplishments either of those two distinguished riders may have accomplished I believe it may be time to reset the record books. I will approach the RW Board of Directors with this proposal but would like to hear from some other people concerning this. Here are my reasons.
The current records have no corroborating evidence. As far as I know the top two times set on Geiger Grade were not done as part of a sanctioned Reno Wheelmen Event (or any other event sanctioned by a club).
We have no evidence that these times were recorded by anyone other than the person who is holding the record.
We have no idea of the start and finish line of either of the times.
This gets into pure speculation but I wanted to put it out there. As we have no date of Greg’s record I would assume that it was laid down when he was a junior. If I remember right he turned pro very early in his career and immediately went to Europe afterwards where he did most of his racing and training. The only recollection I have of him coming back to this area afterwards was during the Coors Classic in the mid 80’s. That being said a Junior rider put down a time that is 10% faster than what nearly anyone else has been able to do over the last two decades. And that includes some very talented local riders on some very up to date and light equipment. It is possible that Greg’s time is only hearsay and was never confirmed by him either.
Again I don’t want to detract from either of these two riders (One a 3 time TDF champ and the other an Elite National Champ) but I do think that it would be right to reset the record books with times set during an actual sanctioned event. Let me know what you think.
I am a litigator and appellate attorney - you need someone with some specific expertise – handling charitable contributions and 501c3 means the IRS is interested and its got to be done right. All sorts of checks and balances are required and I don’t know dinkie doo about it except to do it right.
Electing 501(c)(3) status for a corporation is fairly easy; it’s just a matter of filing a couple forms that almost anyone could fill out. I have the vague recollection that you might want a different form of tax exempt status than 501(c)(3) if you are setting up a charitable foundation instead of a corporation that does charitable things. But, my recollection might be faulty here, I have not looked at 501(c) for a while, and I’m at home, it’s Friday evening, I’m working on my second beer and don’t feel like looking it up on Westlaw right now.
It probably makes sense to set up a separate entity to run things. Again, this is usually a matter of filing a form or two and then paying a fee to the state of organization. It would be a lot easier if you could form a LLC and then elect tax exempt status because LLCs are a lot easier to maintain than corporations (no annual meetings, most states just have you file a form). I’m not sure, however, if the IRS allows a LLC to elect tax exempt status.
More than an attorney, you would need a reasonably competent accountant because they are usually better at keeping the paperwork up to date than attorneys.
This post is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship with anyone, just make some suggestions as to what you would want to discuss with your own attorney and accountant should you wish to do so.
“The current listed record for Geiger Grade is held by Greg Lemond at a time of approximately 27 minutes.”
back when he was a junior, what i heard was 29 minutes, so that makes sense. i think you should write and tell greg that bullshit walks, come and ride it again, this time for real.