North Star Roller Derby is so very pleased to finally announce that we are now a nonprofit! This was a labor of love and our major project over the course of the past year.
As you may or may not have noticed, we were formally an LLC. It was not an easy or quick switch. We first started the process in late 2017, and finally received our nonprofit determination letter in September 2018.
One of the major steps in the changeover was rewriting our bylaws and handbook. This was a huge project we had already been talking about doing. Transitioning to a nonprofit gave us a great reason to look closely at our previous policies and adjust them where needed. This itself was a massive task that took hundreds of hours of work from our league.
We had several motivations driving the change to a nonprofit: tax benefits, fundraising opportunities, and charitable giving benefits being a few big ones. There are many other roller derby leagues that are nonprofits already, so it is not an unusual business choice for the sport.
Our nonprofit status lets us access some fantastic fundraising opportunities that weren’t available under our previous business entity. These include charitable gambling, grants, and approaching larger companies for sponsorships and/or donations. All of these things will help the financial health of our league, which provides both stability and the opportunity for new events, programs, and more!
Now, here’s the most important information: The biggest and most exciting change for you is that money given to NSRD is now tax-deductible (talk to your tax professional)! Being a nonprofit also means we’re now eligible for matching donations. If your workplace does any kind of charitable matching, please consider a donation to NSRD to multiply your efforts. Also, keep an eye out for future fundraisers — now that our options have opened up, we have a ton of fun ideas!
Photo courtesy of Jake Cobb at Workhorse Photography
November 15 is Give to the Max Day, Minnesota’s giving holiday. We think it’s quite fortuitous that we can make our nonprofit announcement today, one month from this amazing event. We are very excited about our first #GTMD18 as a nonprofit and are working on our registration for it. Please keep your eyes peeled on NSRD’s website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates on this in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your continued support and we hope you are as excited for this next phase of North Star Roller Derby as we are!