The Thank You Fund Enters a New Phase

Since the first day that the Brony Thank You Fund had a web page, we've had verbage under our donation button that read:

The Brony Thank You Fund, Incorporated has applied to the United States Internal Revenue Service for registration as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity.  If this application is granted, all donations to the Fund will become retroactively tax-deductible to the extent permissible by law.

If you look on the front page of our web site today, you'll see a very different message:

The Brony Thank You Fund is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

After almost a year to the day after the original incorporation of The Brony Thank You Fund as a New Hampshire non-profit corporation, the Internal Revenue Service today recognized us as a tax-exempt public charity. putting us in the same ranks as the American Red Cross, Toys for Tots, and Save the Children, just to name a few. As far as we know, we are the only media-related fandom ever to create their own full-fledged tax-exempt charity! So what exactly does that mean?

1) Any donations made on or after May 8th, 2012, are now fully tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.  Since most everyone has already filed their taxes for this year, you would have to file an ammended return to take advantage of any donations made in 2012. We will be sending emails this weekend to anyone who has donated $100 or more to the Fund since we started, which will serve as the required receipt of donation under IRS regulations.

2) If you are a company or individual looking for a cause to donate to, we can now offer full deductibility of your donation. There are a number of businesses that are serving the Brony community with goods and services, and a donation to the Thank You Fund would be an awesome way to do it (in our humble opinion.)

3) If you are a convention looking for a charity partner, we can work with you and guarantee no legal or financial complications because all donations will be made to an approved charity (we will work with any state or local authorities to make sure we are approrpriately registered.)

On Monday, we'll be announcing how a donation may win you a poster signed by nearly everyone involved in the show, an awesome MLP trading card mat, or even the chance to have Sabrina "Sibsy" Alberghetti draw your OC for you!

Before we sign off for now, we have to acknowledge the work of our pro bono legal counsel, Andrew Schwartz. He's worked with us nearly since the Fund began, helping to craft and shepherd our application through the tangles of the IRS, and answering sometimes bizaar questions that only a Brony charity could have encountered. Andrew, this one's for you! <BROHOOF>