[BLU/Officers] Corporate standing?

[John Abreau]

As far as I know, we're not registered. We were once affiliated with
BostonUserGroups, which was an umbrella group that handled that sort of
thing, so I suppose it's possible we inherited whatever hiatus they had
when they dissolved and we became the Last LUG Standing.

One thing I clearly remember from our BCS days is that a 501(c)(3) is
forbidden from participating in political activities. I got in trouble once
back  around 1995 or 1996 during a protest where participants would give
their websites a black theme for 48 hours. I participated by applying a
black theme to the BCS site, and the Board of Directors reprimanded me
about a week later because they feared I had jeopardized their charter.

When we discussed registering as a non-profit back when the BCS first
dissolved, I was adamant that the only acceptable status was  as a
501(c)(6), a non-profit trade organization that was not so restricted.

I last recall discussing this issue about 30 years ago.


On Fri, May 1, 2026 at 10:57 AM Bill Ricker via Officers <
officers at lists.blu.org> wrote:

> I had to tell a FLOSS organize that no,  Boston PM isn't incorporated, let
> alone register as a non-profit.
>
> Is BLU incorporated with Mass,  annual officer report to Nass Sec'y of
> State, registered nonprofit with Mass Revenue reporting, IRS registered
> with annual?
>
> (FWIW: I found out decades ago that 501c3 is not technically voided by not
> filing, as filing is optional below a certain annual handle, but if not
> reporting, they won't confirm status,  if say a lawyer for a potential big
> donor attempts due-diligence. Oops.)
>
> Bill Ricker
> bill.n1vux at gmail.com
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/n1vux
> _______________________________________________
> Officers mailing list
> Officers at lists.blu.org
> https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/officers
>


-- 
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
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