Press, Payments, and Porter!

This week is off to a great start as we received word today that our Guidestar listing has been approved.  We should be listed on the site in the next couple days.  For those of you that don't know, Guidestar is a clearing house where you can find information on nonprofit organizations.  You can check out their financials so you know whether or not you are donating money to strong organizations.  In the coming years (after we file tax returns), you will be able to find our annual reports, income statements, and even my salary information.  This is especially exciting, because it should give us access to Razoo, a free online donation platform, in the coming weeks.  I know you have been waiting to make secure, online donations.  We should be able to make that happen very soon.  This online donation system is very timely as we could really use a new wave of donations.

In other news, the term "tax-exempt" is a crock.  For those in the nonprofit world, you already know that tax exempt doesn't impact payroll taxes.  The government still takes that big chunk of your paycheck.  However, there's a significant psychological difference when you actually are the one that has to write that monthly check to the government.  In my previous jobs, it just disappeared.  Now I actually have to make those payments!  AND, my exempt status doesn't protect Reach, Inc. from social security or unemployment insurance taxes either.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure what I'm actually exempt from at this point.

Finally, two nice pieces of news for the program.  First, although small, Reach, Inc. got another mention in the press.  I have been trying to place Reach, Inc. wherever I can, so there is currently a blurb about the organization in this month's newsletter for the UNC School of Social Work.  You can find it in the "Alumni Update" section.  Additionally, we received word this week that Porter Mason, a talented cartoonist, is going to provide some drawings for our Tutor Training Manual, and he has agreed to do it free of charge.  We really appreciate Porter's willingness to work with us on this project.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President

Reach, Inc.