"No one has ever become poor by giving."
Anne Frank
Diary of Anne Frank
It has been 15
months since we lost Ryan. The pain is
still great but we press onward with our commitment of helping others achieve their goals and
dreams through the Ryan Rorie Foundation. Starting a non-profit foundation is not for
the weak or faint of heart. I knew absolutely nothing about non-profits when I
came up with this dream. I had no idea
how many hours, how much frustration, and how many setbacks it would involve. All I knew was that I wanted to do something
that would benefit others in Ryan's name.
I wanted his name to live on and I didn't care how hard it was going to
be to make it happen. I ordered books
from Amazon and read online articles. Non-profit Kit
We had trouble
setting up a board of directors. At
first we would hear, "Oh yes. I
want to be on the board. I want to help
you." But when it got down to the
"nitty gritty," suddenly they
were just too busy. We now have an
excellent board of directors. We all
work many hours per week - unpaid. We
are all professionals - we all have high stress jobs. Two of our board members have school aged
children at home - but we still
devote time to the foundation. We hold board of directors meetings via Skype. We are spread out over 5 states and 2 time
zones. We e-mail - e-mail - and send
more e-mails.
The first stages
involved writing a mission statement, a purpose, writing by-laws, articles of
incorporation, conflict of interest policy, creating a budget, and much
more. Then there was the question of
where the initial start up funds come from.
I soon realized that I was "in over my head."
Enter - Chris S. I am a happy "Googler" and I found
Chris's website. His job is to help
individuals and groups set up non-profits.
I hired Chris to help me with the legal paperwork for the IRS. I had never heard the term 501(c)(3) until a
year ago. Now it rolls off my tongue
easily. This is the status granted by
the IRS that allows individuals to make donations to a non-profit that gives
the donor a tax write-off. I was so dumb
about this. I thought, "OK. I can
download the forms and fill them out.
Wrong! The Form 1023 is 31 pages
long and the descriptive attachment that goes with it is 15 pages long. There are questions that I have no idea how
to answer. If you submit this to the
IRS with errors, your status will be denied until they are corrected and that
could set you back months. Chris's fee
is not cheap and the fee to the IRS is $850 so you need start up funds if you
want to found a non-profit Chris has
been kind and patient with me. Yes, I
know he is being paid, but he could still be gruff and he isn't. We conduct weekly two hour long (yes two
hours) phone calls. He goes over every
document word by word and makes sure there are no errors. It's tiresome work but it will soon be
complete.
We have scheduled
our first fundraiser for March 12, 2016 in Los Angeles. Two of our board members are graphic artists
and they have taken the helm on this.
Our board member, Nicole, lives in LA and has put together, what will
be, an awesome show. Board member,
Christel, is working with our advertising agent to promote the show. I cannot say enough good things about these
young women. Both of these women loved
Ryan and he loved them. Christel and
Ryan were friends form toddlers on. Ryan
met Nicole in California. I refer to
Nicole as " Ryan's Nicole."
She's the daughter-in-law that I never got to have, but in my heart, she
is.
Through planning
this event we needed an advertising agent.
Nicole secured a deal, greatly discounted, since we are a non-profit. Brad, the young man that runs the advertising
company, has also been very kind to me.
Last night we were e-mailing back and forth, getting the necessary
paperwork done and I said to him, "I am sorry that I don't know these things. I am having to learn as I go." He replied that he would carefully walk me
through the paperwork and make sure I understood what I was signing. He also told me that he is a former Special
Ed teacher and has a soft spot for teachers.
It's funny how you
go through life and don't really know much about some of the people you
encounter. Misty and I have been amazed
at how many people that we have dealt with in other areas of our life and
careers and didn't know that they were involved with non-profits until
recently. We have gotten great tips and
information from many of these people.
Many people have
asked me why I am pursuing this. When I lost Ryan, at first, I didn't want to
go on living but I realized that I have another child and grandchildren who I
love just as much. I need them and they
need me. But - I needed something that would allow Ryan's
legacy of loving the creative arts to live on.
I have had people tell me that I should take the money I'm spending on
the foundation and treat myself to a
dream vacation or buy something for myself.
That's just not me. I wanted to
create something for Ryan that will live on.
Kids that benefit from the foundation may never know who Ryan was or
what he did and that's OK. It is about
Ryan's love of the arts and his desire that all kids get to express themselves
creatively.
I would be remiss
if I didn't address one last item. I see
a lot of shares on social media about non-profits and how the money doesn't go
to the actual cause. I can only speak
for our foundation. Our board of
directors are unpaid - we work FREE. At
this juncture, we are paying for our own traveling expenses and so on. A non-profit cannot give 100 percent of the
donations. We have to pay our
bills. There are attorney fees,
accountant fees, advertising fees, TAXES (both federal and franchise). We are a corporation and fall under the same
tax laws as any business where you shop.
We will donate what is left after the bills are paid. Not to sound harsh - this is just the reality
of it.
Becoming the founder
of a non-profit has really been an eye opener.
I now shop for gifts from non-profits.
I couldn't complete my entire holiday shopping this way, but many of my
gifts came from non-profits and I plan to continue to support them.
I wish all of you a
Happy Holiday and as you celebrate with your loved ones, please be reminded
that there are so many out there in need.
Give what you can and do so with a giving heart.
Shelley
Ryan Rorie Foundation
