1.14.06.dl

Daaamn. The posts be ablaze now. Le sweet. I'm just going to refer to all this grant stuff since I am not in the position to be involved at all in the final filming of BIA. So, yeah, being affiliated with a non-profit. I will try to explain what information I have on this as best I can. Sorry I havn't posted in a few but I've been PA'ing on Lost for 2 days which maybe can be chalked up as "experience in the biz" but is more like trying to pay the bills. Anyway, so all these grants that we are going to be applying for only give to non-profit organizations. Another way of saying non-profit is that they have 501c3 tax exempt status with the IRS. So since we are not a non-profit organization and it's damn complicated to become one, we're just going to latch on to one like those little fish that suck along with them big ass great white sharks. So we basically approach any non-profit with this inquiry: can we be affiliated with you, or would you like to be our fiscal sponsor. This should not be a shock to these organizations because they have most likely done this many times before. In fact, that's a large function of most non-profits, since they don't make a profit, all their time is spent "fund raising" instead of selling soap or whatever. So they are familiar with the process and I believe it is standard procedure for them to actually fill out the grant themselves. If they don't have time for this, we can offer to write the grants (which is fine) and either just give our content to them or else they give us their information and we write it in. So the information we need from them as I've seen in a few of the grants is at the very least a letter confirming the organization as 501c3 tax-exempt/non-profit. Other info includes a list of the board members, possibly their budget and tax info from the previous year and things like that. Also, I've seen them ask for brochures and other stuff (I guess to show how sweet the non-profit is, how competent and how involved they are etc). So then they write the grant or are on the grant so they actually recieve the check. This also means that they are fiscally responsible, so I guess if we fuck up and are grossly negligent or something they get the whipping. On the other hand they reap all the benefits, which is what we should tell them. We are basically offering them a product or service which will benefit them and make them look better. In the case of Dobama this would be that they would be entering and becoming a player in the film world/ making it possible for the Cleveland community, that might not otherwise, be able to make films and get them seen. I would think this would be huge for Dobama. They could get their local talent on the screen as well as the stage. ("We ain't one-and-a-timing here, we mass communicatin'!") As far as them being in a different tax bracket I still have not locked down that info, but again I would think that they would already know this, and getting more money is not a problem. We are not inconveniencing any non-profit we approach. This is old hat to them, and it's only wierd to us cuz we've never done it, plus it is a symbiotic relationship. So, Holla, the more the merrier, the more money, the more non-profits, it's all good.