[OLPC-Philippines] Organization Formation

[Cherry Withers]

Speaking of organization formation...here's what I found out so far:

If we want to set it up here in the US, which seems to be what "Open
Learning Nepal" did (since it's
listed as 501(c)3, we can ask MyCorp.com to do it for $124. While it seems
quick to set it up,
maintenance is tedious, because the Internal Revenue Service is very strict
and an organization
can be taxed heavily for any misstep. Hopefully a CPA can step-up as a
volunteer.

So, in the Philippines...you have to file it with the SEC as a NGO
non-profit org. I think there's a
way now to do this on-line. They have a fee schedule available on their
site, but since I'm not
an accountant I don't know which stuff we need to pay for. You still have to
file something at the BIR
at year's end to verify that you're operating as a non-profit entity. I'm
not sure how strict they are out there.
Also, there is such a thing as a "donor tax" where one is taxed for
charitable contributions. This seems
to defy the logic of giving since why would one give if you're going to be
taxed for it. I guess this is
why big corporations in the Philippines set up their own non-profit
foundations to handle charitable
contributions. Again, I'm not an accountant and I just found these out from
the web and by asking
some friends in the Philippines.

Another option is funneling everything to DepEd and letting them handle the
donations and disbursement, which
frankly scares me since I don't trust the government there and they might
not be as transparent as
we will be on the funds.

Cheers,
---Cherry
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