Vol 40 Issue 8 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ALPHA PHI OMEGA GREATER LOS ANGELES ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
August 2020
ONE PLUS ONE = TWO IN ONE By Brod Mar Garchitorena
Would you believe it’s already over 5 years since we decided to be a nonprofit 501C7. Wow, time flies so fast. I realized now that it was a wise choice because of the inherent characteristic of our membership. Although we still want to be of service to others and the community because of our upbringing as an APO, we are now really a Social club. Unfortunately, charitable givings and service to the community is not a part of being a C7 Social club. A social club as defined by the IRS is an organization established for pleasure, recreation and activities for the sole benefit of its members. Its funding can only come from its own membership and other sources of income from the operation of its assets. We cannot solicit funding outside of our membership. With that definition, it imposes certain limitations upon us as to what activities are allowable for a C7 Social club. On the other hand, a C3 is defined as a nonprofit organization established, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. So we can do charitable and educational services here in the USA and anywhere in the world as long as the benefit will not redound directly to any of its officers and Board members. Another advantage of the C3 is that your donations can be tax deductible and also we can raise fund outside of the membership of APOGLA.
APOGLA brods led by Pres. Tony Amon and VP Jobee Jovellanos putting together in balikbayan boxes donations for the victims of the recent Taal Volcano eruption in the Philippines
One big reason why we opted from the C3 is because of the inurement clause. We were afraid then that because we had the endowment fund for our members, we were not in compliance with that clause and because of that we were after that we might lose our nonprofit status. We just found out that the C3 can also give help to individuals, members or not, as long as not to its officers and Board members who makes the decision. Continued on page 3