Um, yeah. That’s why the first paragraph of my post, which you deleted from the quote, said what it said!
CTVALLEYRR
thank you for your input. If I cannot find anyone in the local area to start a club with I will truly use your advice and corporation if I should take my layout and move it into an office building. I’m not looking for any revenue for the club, just a club for modelers so the non-profit idea will be thrown to the waste side if the future members decided against it. I was hoping for 3 or 4 members to the 155 sq ft idea, but if there are more interested people we will have a talk about the perfect location and space for everyone to be able to operate and move around without crowding. I have no doubts, just ideas and a burning desire to start one with fellow modelers who will understand and appreciate the art and skill into building a great layout and insult other members with funny loco jokes or something. It took me a few months to few a lot about benchwork and even more after I change from HO or N scale.
I thank you for your advice.
JOEINPA
I thought of that, but since I might be the youngest of the group my layout might be small compared to theirs .There is a local hobby shop near me and i had an idea of having the group meeting there and talking about what they love about model railroading, their favorite railroad, or anything related to that.
thank you
Your idea can work, There is a hobby shop near me that allows a group of N gauge modelers to meet in the basement. They have set up a nice little layout and meet to run trains and talk over things.
Joe
I would be VERY careful, even in the Great White North or the Good Ole US of A, in going out and searching statutes and regulations on the Internet and then deciding I knew what the heck I was doing.
Legal matters are not set up cleanly with one statute or regulation covering all possible contingencies, and latter laws and regulations often contradict parts of older ones. Then there is the matter of interpretation of case law by courts, which is almost never annotated in the laws themselves.
While you might get a general idea of the legal landscape this way, you will only learn enough to be dangerous if a legal issue actually arises. Personal injury lawyers (and some highly paid criminal defense lawyers) are, well, I won’t say anything unpleasant here. Other lawyers are a necessary part of doing business in the modern world – and most of them are good, decent, and honest people. There is no substitute for good legal advice.
Agreed.
My train of thought (pun intended) as one who has been associated with various clubs and organizations throughout my entire life was, that if Mr.LMD was serious, his first step should be to familiarize himself with what hurtles he faces as far as regulations, rules and requirements are concerned. Then when he poses his questions to the community to try and stir up some interest, he is well prepared to answer questions pers
In my opinion…just get yourself a group of people that have an interest in trains and go from there…don`t go whole-hog into starting a club right away…
…I was part of a group of like minded people when I used to live in Florida many years ago that formed a round robin group that would meet at different peoples houses to run trains, what video`s and slides, show off models and so forth.
A major advantage to what we had was there were no dues because we were a “group” and not a “club”…no by-laws and such to have to deal with…just a group of people that liked trains and and wanted to have fun.
Just my [2c]
Yes you did, but as I read it you were saying that he should get a lawyer for advice. I was just reinforcing that idea as regards to getting the paperwork done. After all, there are two steps to the process…asking for advice, which may or may not be followed; and doing the paperwork, which is absolutely necessary.
I have been involved with one club ( not MRR related) since I was a child. I am now 55. A lot of water has passed under the bridge as far as ups and downs, including the treasurer stealing $14000.00 from the club account. He was quickly caught and prosecuted, but the money was not recovered. We have accomplished an incredible amount for our cause and it has been a good ride. While the club serves it’s purpose, I get the most enjoyment out of the 10 to 20 fellow club members who are good friends that show up at the house most Saturday nights to watch Hockey Night.
Getting together socially means you get to choose who you spend time doing things with. Personality conflicts that often result through ones behaviour are easily avoided. Clubs serve a purpose, but once established often change direction and they can become less enjoyable depending on what personalities wonder in and out through the years.
You can’t beat a few good friends getting together socially that enjoy a common interest, a club is a good way to meet them[:)]
Brent[C):-)]
BATMAN
Thank you for your input and I already did the research and found that model trains clubs are able to be non profit.
Thank you sir once again.
CTVALLEYRR
you are certainly true.
BATMAN
I do understand your concern and offering your opinion, but I have done hours upon hours of research and reading over my local government website more than twice so I know the rules and regulation involving starting a club and or non-profit. Even while there are many lawyers and such out there, I will only use Legalzoom for the paperwork and the treasurer and will keep tabs on the money and accounting because it will cost money to have anyone outside of the club to take care of legal and financial matters.
I do thank everyone who commented thus far.
I am sorry that you have a thief among your mist and that is one problem you have to deal with when dealing with new faces or friends who are given a certain power and misused it. Do not get me wrong, we will not just run the club and not see each other outside of that, but do social things away from the layout from time to time. When the club become official and we can start looking for a place to house the layout or build a layout, everything will be to a majority vote and if things cannot be settle that way, we will compromise on what each person wants to include or do with the layout.
I started a non-profit charity 25 years ago. I certainly don’t remember every hoop to jump through and things might be different today anyway, but I do know that you could do it on your own but you really need a lawyer. He/she files paperwork on your behalf (USA charity) with the local, state and federal governments asking permission to form the charity. Every application requires fees. Then the name you pick has to be rsearched/approved. You need a Board of Directors of some sort, written bylaws discussing things like voting, open or closed membership, frequency of meetings, and the election of officers. Failure to give them that is going to look like a scam. You won’t get non profit status without it, And you have to make annual reports/financial disclosures to the IRS and the state.
All this for 5 guys? Why bother? Find a bunch of people, write down some rules, go have fun. You’re, IMHO, really overcomplicating this.
-Ed
Sorry for not commenting sooner, I was at a naptown & White River Model Train event at a high school and could not get to the internet as I was looking for new locos, rolling stock, magazines, and videos. Well I found three DVDS primarily talking about Chicago Railroading and spoke to a fellow freelance modeler about a 2-8-8-2, Conrail, Pennsy, etc.
Didnt get the chance to talk to him about if hes in a club or not, was too interested in talking about railroading in general.
Looks like you are in Illinois, I am the President of a Non-Profit Australian Shepherd dog rescue, I set our organization up myself, it took some research, but you will basically need to first incorporate with the State of Illinois as a not for profit, that will run you $50, $75 if you want them to do the incorporation while you wait. You will need to write up your articles of incorporation, many are just boiler plate articles and bylaws.
The hardest is the 501c3 status from the IRS, that will run up to $850 to do, it takes filling out about 8 or so pages with the IRS, plan on waiting for about 3-8 months for the final approval. As long as you are a 100% volunteer organization, it’s pretty cut and dry. You can find attorneys to do this for you, and save a lot of headache and time, but honestly, it is not that hard.
I am not sure you can be a 1 person non profit, though I would imagine you can. We had 3 officers and a board of directors, which you will need to list when you incorporate.
Good luck, it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, doing for others and asking nothing in return.
Dave
EDZ
You brought up a good point and if things doesn’t work out, I might just move my layout into a small officespace and keep the light bill low lol.
I know Legalzoom can do things like that and my mother has a lawyer so I could probably use her lawyer as my lawyer. Also, a few days ago I came across a website detailing the exact info you commented and I wrote every heading and detail down because that would be needed when/if interested members decide to become a club and operate trains.
I want at least 5 total (including myself) in the club, but if there are more than four interested people who want to join and operate we will have to find a much bigger place to allow more than 5 people to operate the layout. If I am overdoing things, it’s because I have learned to cover all my bases before attempting anything.
Thank you sir and I would figure it would be a long wait to hear back from the IRS and their many duties. By the time they approve or deny us, everytime that’s needed would be done including who’s doing what and the layout design will be voted upon and ready. The club would be like every other railroad club suppose to be like: honest, legal, and fun.
If things come to a point where no one wants to start a club I will not mind in the future of renting out space to construct and operate my own layout, but that’s just a last resort because it takes time to find the people who are interested in modeling. I would like to give members board positions to limit how much the club will have to pay to keep outside people to help keep the layout afloat. <
If you are looking to register as an IRS-recognized non-profit – The status you are looking for is probably under IRS Section 501(c)(7). See Wikipedia’s 501(c) Organization.
Years ago, an insurance client was starting a new family-controlled gymnastics academy business – And their attorney mistakenly incorporated them under Section 501(c)(3) which was IRS-declined due to no gymnastics building with gymnastics business inside it – So, the gymnastics business was eventually approved as s Section 501(c)(7) Organization, and the client rented to house the gymnastics academy. The gymnastics client ended up paying “double fees” as their attorney (“qualified” to practice law) didn’t do its’ up-front homework.