Thanks for letting us share in your hobby!
God bless you and God bless America!
Posted on 12/08/2001 12:25:12 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Is Free Republic a commercial operation or a charity?
Well, here's the way I see it. Free Republic is neither a charity or a commercial operation. It is simply a website. A public political bulletin board, just like thousands upon thousands of other non-commercial, not for profit, public political bulletin boards, only larger.Our participants post and discuss political topics, government topics, constitutional issues, current events and other miscellaneous topics. I operate it as an avocation (a hobby). I was sued by a couple major media players, so I filed as an LLC to gain at least a small amount of liability protection in case others want to jump on after the LAT/WP or in case some wild-eyed poster comes in and posts a bunch of crap that brings lawsuits my way.
In the beginning, I paid all of the expenses of operating the website out of my own pocket. But as it grew and the expenses grew, and I went broke, I could no longer afford the bills. Free Republic has tens of thousands of participants and is steadily growing. Because we are posting under the fair use provisions of copyright law, I cannot charge a membership fee, I cannot sell merchandise, I cannot sell advertising, and I cannot enter into any commercial business. I simply cannot earn money on Free Republic as a commercial operation.
And, because of the fact that we advocate various political positions and even support (by arguing for or against) various political candidates and or conservative issues or causes, I cannot qualify as a public benefit non-profit charity (501C, etc.).
Because I have no personal capital or resources, and I cannot seek outside investors or capital (that might be construed as being commercial), and I cannot charge for services or products (that may also be construed as being commercial), I'm pretty much stuck with the choice of folding up the public political discussion board (thus depriving myself and thousands of others this obviously effective and established opportunity of exercising our first amendment rights to political free speech), or allowing others to voluntarily donate money as gifts to pay the expenses. There is not much room to do anything else.
All we (our participants) want to do, both as individuals and as a group, is to be able to exercise our first amendment rights to criticize the illegally expanding government and its chief advocate, the mainstream media. This is our right under the Constitution. And we do this by posting news articles and other public information to use as a base of comparison and basis for for critique and political discussion.
Because we cannot be commercial and we cannot be a public charity and I do not have the financial wherewithal myself to fund it, the readers and participants willingly chip in to keep the website going. There is no way this giving is commercial and there is no way that it is a public benefit charity. It is simply a relatively small number of the total readers and participants willingly taking it upon themselves to gift money to Free Republic to keep the discussion board from going broke. No one is forced to contribute to Free Republic and, in fact, the vast majority do not. No price or fee is charged to anyone to read Free Republic or to participate in the discussion. It is totally free.
We do not engage in commerce. We do not sell anything. We do not have customers. We do not have subscribers. We do not have a paid membership. We do not have investors. We do not purchase anything, other than bandwidth and equipment to keep the discussion board operating. There is no inventory, no manufacturing, no sales, no services rendered, no investors, no stockholders, no board of directors, no outsiders, no sales people, no employees, no payroll, no payroll expenses, no payroll taxes, no employee benefits, no nothing. There is no commercial business taking place here. There is nothing commercial about Free Republic.
A commercial operation would be doing some kind of business. It would have a price list or rate book and or a catalog or product sheet or a description of product or service or some other communications vehicle that would allow potential customers or clients or subscribers or members or investors or whomever to see what is offered, what he is purchasing, and how much he would have to pay for it, and how it compares to the competition. There is no proposal or sales order or contract or agreement that describes a product or service to be delivered for a fee or a price and there are no contractual documents or agreements between buyer and seller describing how money or goods or services are to change hands. There are no guarantees or warrantees for fitness or suitability. Nothing. No commercial business is transacted.
Free Republic is not a commercial operation, period.
So, then, is it a public benefit charity?
Free Republic does not fit within the definition of a public benefit charity or professional fundraising operation. Participants willingly give to keep the lights on and the board operating, but Free Republic is not a registered public benefit charity or church or any other such operation. It is not a 501C non-profit organization, in fact, because it engages in politics and supports and promotes various conservative political issues and causes, it cannot qualify as a public benefit charity.Free Republic's legal and tax status is a California Limited Liability Company filing with the IRS on form 1065. The excess of receipts over expenditures for an LLC, such as Free Republic, LLC, flows back to the members (mainly me in this case) and is reported as income on our personal tax returns.
There is no money paid out to outsiders or investors or charity seekers or beneficiaries. We do not raise funds to be used for public benefit. We do not raise funds to be given to others. We do not take on charitable causes. We do not offer charitable services.
The gifts we receive are not charitable giving in the sense of a 501C or other state or federal chartered public benefit charity. There are no beneficiaries. We are not a church, not a hospital, not a foundation, not a trust, not a fund, not a school, not a library. not a public benefit corporation and we are not tax exempt. The givers do not receive a tax deduction for their gifts. There are no strings attached in exchange for the gifts. Once the gift is given the giver no longer controls the gift. We have no financial or fiduciary duty to the giver.
We are simply not subject to the corporate charity or public benefit laws of the various states and we are not a public benefit charity.
Is it a tax exempt operation?
No. We pay taxes on the excess of gifts received over funds paid out, because we have to in order to comply with the IRS regulations for hobbies, but that does not make us a commercial business. Again, we do not manufacture, purchase for resell, or provide a service in return for pay. We do not sell memberships, or advertising or anything else. We do not operate a business. Any cash received is received as gifts. The givers are not promised anything in return nor do they receive anything. No one must give to use Free Republic. The website is free to all participants. It is simply a public political discussion forum that I operate as an avocation and people are willing to freely give in order to keep it alive and on the air, because they love it.What is Free Republic then?
So, Free Republic is not a commercial operation nor is it a charity. What is it then? It is simply what it is, a non-commercial, not for profit public (decidely for conservatives) electronic townhall meeting and bulletin board discussion forum operated as an avocation with its expenses paid for in the form of taxable gifts from some of its fans because they love it, and they do not want it to die.
Neither. A not for profit does not have to be a charity.
Man, you must have a full wardrobe of teflon suits ;)
I was on the board of a nonprofit conservative business club. We did fine until it came to supporting candidates. We got around that by saying we were only supporting candidates who were members of our club. We thanked our members for stepping up to the plate and running for office. But on this board, with no controls, I don't think we could get away with supporting GWB, etc. and still maintain our nonprofit status.
Which also happens to be one of the most interesting sources of news ANYWHERE on the net! Thanks JimRob for keeping it going for us!
And, because of the fact that we advocate various political positions and even support (by arguing for or against) various political candidates and or conservative issues or causes, I cannot qualify as a public benefit non-profit charity (501C, etc.).
You know you can write that a million times and still some people don't want to understand
Amazing.
God Bless you.
The host performs its task of providing educational forums according to a theme (that's the non-profit's sole function vis a vis the IRS) and does not endorse the content expressed by invited guests.
I guarantee this will work.
But, there are downsides to non-profits. If I were Jim I would know both sides or, since going non-profit would appear to have many advantages, become thoroughly famliar with non-profit administration and regs by asking those among his friends and contacts who have done it before.
FR is not just your avocation, Jim. It is the avocation that we FReepers all share.
I don't look at my monthly contribution as a gift, nor a requirement. I look at it as an investment. My concern is for my children. Seeing the direction the country was going, especially during the clinton years was what turned me from a mere political junkie to a sign-carrying protestor. FR provided the rallying point for all of us to band together and accomplish a LOT in the past 4 years!
I sincerely thank you and John for FR. The country is a better place because of FR, and the Robinsons!
FR is what it is, but it also seems to have a life of its own that may not be as controlable as desired. No doubt much legal advise will be offered that may help you and us.
Thank you Jim.
Through FReep Mail, Grampa Dave and I expressed the same sentiments. Our country would be leaderless at this stage if it weren't for Free Republic.
And that right there, is how I have viewed each of my contributions to FR. Anyone who sends FR a donation (or gift) expecting to have control over the system, special "access" or favors granted, special treatment in any way, or somehow thinking that they can demand "financial accountability" is seriously mistaken.
Donations are "gifts" and go with no strings attached.
Just my view.
Au contraire. FR provides one of the most valuable services on the 'net, IMO. It is the only forum that I am aware of, where Conservatives (and non-Conservatives) can get together and have the conversations that we do, right here.
FR has been my "lifeline" at times over the past few years that I've been here. It is the first place I come to for news and opinion on a variety of topics. Often, my own opinion is either validated/solidified or swayed based on the intelligent, cogent opinion of others that I have read here.
I challenge ANYONE to name another website like FR. There is none. And that's why IMO FreeRepublic provides a very valuable service on the 'net.
You are far too humble Jim. :)
It's not much of a leap at all. Think about this for a moment. From Barbara Olson's comments (God rest her soul) to Registered's "Sore/Loserman" graphic to the recent "Lets Roll" campaign (which also originated here on FR) it's probably safe to say that FR is "monitored" by both political camps.
Time and again, I've seen & heard "one liners" quoted directly off of FR on Rush, some of the Sunday Talking Heads shows, Sean Hannity reading directly off of FR, and even the democRATS themselves trying to refute the comments made HERE, without anyone in the Republican Party saying nary a word.
It's a beautiful thing. I find myself often commenting to my better half "we said that on FR!" when the lamestream media finally catches up to US!
Often the best comments posted here are biting, hard-hitting, incisive and cutting edge. This is when FR is at it's best, IMO. The impeachment of Clinton was one of FR's hilights, since so many here were so active in that effort, and the Florida Election debacle was another. I continue to believe to this day that without FR, Republicans & Conservatives (the two are not always the same) wouldn't have stood up and done what we did in Florida, to secure the rightful victory that was President Bush's.
FR's influence is far and wide. Our only "problem" is that we do not measure that influence, and exercize it as much as we can and should. We need to find a tool with which to measure and document FR's successes. We "know" what they are, we just don't measure, document, and credit ourselves for them as much or well as we should.
( /soapbox)
Free Republic is something new, both in scope (world-wide) and application (letting total strangers converse and debate).
It's kind of sad, really, to think about a government, or any regulatory body, that through its bureaucracy would try to impose rules and regulations based on OTHER THINGS that Free Republic is not. Maybe, Free Republic will be gone soon, because of this, or push the government to consider new ideas and ways of defining things. So right now, we may be in a golden age that some will look back on as the beginning of the common man's participation and control of his own life.
At least I hope so.
Once you settle, make this a subscription site. You've got 70,000+ registered users here, and who knows how many regular users, yet less than 1000 Freepers contributed to the last fundraiser here. Ditch the leakers. The network overhead needs to be plannable and affordable to the number of anticipated users. That truth is the legacy of all the dead dotcoms. Hey, make everybody who uses this site invest in this site. If they're not willing to pony $20 annually for access here, they don't value this resource and they shouldn't be using the forum in the first place.
Just my $.02 from someone who cares about this joint.
Thanks for letting us share in your hobby!
God bless you and God bless America!
Good point, and that's what I do with mine. In the "comments" section I say it's a gift to be used however JimRob deems necessary. That means he can use it to help pay the mortgage, put food on the table, run FR or pay down some legal bills, I don't care.
Which brings me to the larger point that you touch on: If it's specified as a GIFT to JimRob, up to $10,000 is TAX FREE for Jim. That means he doesn't have to pay taxes on it, and it gives him more "income" with which to support FR or himself. Perhaps we should change the donation screen and add a check-box to specify "gift" for the next fundraiser to help make this easier.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.