I've been waiting for my IRS determination letter for a long time. Can TechSoup recognize organizations that are waiting for their determination letter?

As is true for cash donations, foundation grants, and other kinds of philanthropy, there are legal restrictions on the ways in which we process donations and discounts. Our goal is always to serve as many nonprofit and public benefit actors as possible. Part of achieving this goal means working with corporate donors to establish a reliable and transparent way of identifying who can receive product donations and meet the philanthropic goals of these donors. To date, this process has been possible by relying on IRS determinations for U.S. entities. The IRS expressly allows us to rely on such determination letters as a means of complying with our own 501(c)(3) status when transferring benefits to other organizations.

We know how frustrating and hard this can be for organizations, particularly those that are trying to set up operations quickly to respond to the needs of their communities. The good news is that the IRS already has a process in place to expedite your application, in the following situations: (1) if your organization has a pending grant awaiting the IRS' determination, where failure to secure the grant will have an adverse impact on the organization's ability to continue operating; (2) if your organization is providing disaster relief to victims of emergencies; or (3) if IRS errors have caused undue delays in issuing a determination letter.

In addition, for organizations that do not have more than $250,000 in assets, and that do not anticipate receiving more than $50,000 in gross revenue for each of their first three years in operation, the IRS offers the Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) (known as the 1023-EZ). This is a shorter form, and the IRS guarantees faster determinations for users of this form.

Our ability to serve civil society in all of its forms, including newly established organizations or those operating under unique circumstances or entity types, continues to be an area of focus for us. We are actively piloting projects to reach new organization types. If you are interested in knowing more about these pilots, please contact eligibility [at] techsoup [dot] org.