We’re Approved. Now What?
We checked the Northern Pyre PO Box last weekend and received two letters from the IRS. The first one opened with this line:
We’re pleased to tell you we determined you’re exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(13).
The second letter had more information about filing Form 990, a yearly tax form that will detail all of our financial accountability.
It’s official - Northern Pyre is an approved nonprofit.
After the initial shock, we started making lists. With the backlog of Form 1023s and 1024s, we weren’t anticipating this for another few months. Luckily, our July board meeting was the day after we received the letter of exemption.
One well-loved document we keep on our drive is called nonprofit-roadmap.xlsx. It has all of our steps to register and incorporate Northern Pyre, along with associated costs and timing. There’s a clear delineation between “before approval” tasks and “after approval” tasks, because so many new opportunities are available to 501(c)(13)s. We wouldn’t feel ethical about fundraising, grant applications, or donation pages without our tax exemption status.
In addition to some of the more obvious next steps (registering on charity finders, creating a business page on LinkedIn), there are some small steps that we shouldn’t discount. We’ve been meaning to get a content calendar off the ground since Northern Pyre’s inception, but it’s always been a nice-to-have. With a mounting pressure to build awareness, a schedule for social media will be essential. We also need to be creative with fundraising opportunities - this is an extremely niche need and requires careful research before we promote anything major.
Luckily, our board has some incredible experience to draw from:
Mme. President has worked in marketing and brand communications for more than a decade.
Mme. Vice President has a history of grant writing and working with state legislators.
Mme. Secretary is an acclaimed professional writer who can find every buried lede in a story.
Mme. Treasurer has a respectable resume of accounting and bookkeeping and is proud to say she’s never worked for a company that tracked their budgets through Microsoft Excel.
There are so many new ideas that we have to get us to our goal of open-air cremation, starting with a perpetual care fund to respectfully maintain the land for the pyre. We’re also beginning the process of deep-diving into obtaining a conditional use permit.
All this is to say - some exciting things are happening this year.
