I just started seeing the “freeCodeCamp.com is a small nonprofit with a big mission” banner. Is FCC a registered nonprofit now? I ask because my workplace will donate money to nonprofits that I donate my time to, and I’d love to make that happen.
5 Likes
I’ve been known to do a little grant proposal writing…
1 Like
I believe FreeCodeCamp has always been a nonprofit. I’d try to get in contact with @QuincyLarson either on here, Gitter, or even twitter because he is the one who started FCC!
1 Like
Right. I was wondering if FCC was a 501©. That’s why I asked 
. I know that it hasn’t been in the past, but I got excited because this is the first time I’ve seen FCC refer to itself as a “nonprofit”.
Great question. Yes, we are legally incorporated as a nonprofit.
In the US, you have to go through a lengthy process to obtain 501©(3) status so that all donations to us will be deductible. We are still going through that process.
We don’t anticipate any problems with this, and are optimistic that all donations to us in 2017 will be tax-deductible, but we can’t claim that with 100% certainty, so we aren’t.
Once we have 501©(3) status, though, we would welcome donations from your workplace.
We are an extremely lean organization, with basically no administrative overhead - most of the donations are going directly toward paying for servers, curriculum development, and building open source tools for other nonprofits.
14 Likes
That’s awesome to hear. I’m obviously participating for my own benefit, but getting HPE to chip in will be icing on the cake. Since they’ll donate more per hour if I’m volunteering in a way that lines up with my job, maybe I’ll finally get around to contributing to the codebase.
2 Likes
Thanks, @p1xt. Yes - both of these entities were created by us.
One is the old California “closed” corporation which was the cheapest legal structure we could quickly and inexpensively set up.
The other is the Delaware-based nonprofit. (A vast majority of companies and nonprofits incorporate in Delaware because of their established case law.) We closed the California entity and donated all of its assets to the Delaware nonprofit (thought it may take a while to stop showing up in directories like this).
2 Likes
Is there any update on the status of the 501c3 status?
My work is requesting this information to secure a free location for our local group to utilize.
Thanks for any information!
Speaking of this, is their anyway i can convince my friend that FCC isnt a virus? He refuses to check out this website think its covered in ads or paid memberships. He comes to the conclusion that this website wouldn’t survive based on donations, meet ups and merchandise, therefor; he won’t check it out. Any ideas?
Large corporation culture, the rules tend to be the rules regardless. They require it to be 501c3 or a pre-existing relationship with the organization to use facilities.
I do not disagree with your logic but I reached out and that was what I was told.
Yeah, some companies will. Mine will not unless it meets their rules.
How about Khan Academy? Maybe instead of him checking it out, you show it to him on your own computer? Maybe once he sees the websites and applications you are able to make he will be less skeptical…
Well FCC is the best i would say, so any statics i can use to get him to at least try it?
Honestly, sounds like he is being belligerent and he’s not interested in even checking FCC out. His loss.
Yeah i can tell. He kinda blow me off, but he said he is interested in programming as a side hobby.
Having worked with non-profits before, I know that it sometimes takes a while for them to show up on IRS site. I don’t know what the lag is, but it is not trivial.
After I asked this question Quincy had sent me a message stating: “We are a registered nonprofit but we’re still waiting for the IRS to grant us tax-exempt status.”
That is the latest I have heard and that was in the beginning of December.
I am certainly not an expert in any of this, but I have heard it can take up to a year for everything to be reviewed and decided.
After re-reading some of this post I have a strong feeling that, as soon as 501©(3) is granted/finalized, there will be a decent amount of attention brought to that fact. It is likely the difference in a decent amount of donations.
1 Like
That’s correct. We’re still waiting for the tax-exempt status from the IRS.