Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion WHA Welcome Page Is Great

Thank you to the WHA BOD for a great and easy way to donate to the Whitney Zone through Steve C.'s Welcome Page. I tried it today and found it so easy to use.

I remember when I first found the Whitney Zone last summer, I wanted to have a special picture or insignia next to my name like others had. Bee contacted me and told me that I could send $20.00 to Steve C. to be a Whitney Hikers Association member. I sent my money by check to Steve C. and he told me I could have my picture next to my name, YIPPEE, JUST WHAT I WANTED. He calls the picture an Avatar.

Thank you to the WHA BOD for creating and maintaing a wonderful forum for hikers of all abilities to meet and converse with other hikers from anywhere and everywhere in the world.

I'm so glad I found the WZ.

Sincerely,

Lynn

I have to reiterate what Lynn wrote. I joined the blog a few weeks back and have been reading it for a few months now. I guess all that is left is joining the Hikers Association!

This summer I am planning my first trip up Mt Whitney and continuing along the JMT. The knowledge I have gained from this forum has been incredible. There is nothing like firsthand experience to get a gauge on what to expect. In addition to the learning, the posts also keep me entertained to say the least.

I look forward to my trip this Summer and also to continue to read the great posts by this community.

lynn & others,

The donations are very much appreciated, as Steve kindly picks up the costs for the cameras, software, licensing, & other expenses that would normally be covered as a business write-off (not -- WZ is non profit) or by an excess of on-line advertisements (a sea of blinking lights) It is the wishful thinking that some day there will be enough funds to make annual donations to the local SAR team, or some other Whitney related project.

One of the possibilities discussed is pan/tilt mounts for the cameras. Visitors would be able to take control of the cams for (possibly) a small amount of money and pan, tilt & zoom to their heart's content. Costs money.

Is there a Paypal account to send money to?
--
never mind! I see there IS!
The only place I ever go is to the forums so I just went to the home page for the for time in a year or more and started looking around and found the donation page pretty quick.

Thank you Lynn, for starting this thread, and thanks to the others for the good words.

I have not posted an update about the Mt Whitney Hikers Association and its organizational progress, so I'll write briefly here...

This year, we formed an official Board of Directors for the association:
President: Steve C
Vice Pres: Bee
Secretary: CaT
Treasurer: Mike Condron
BOD member: Versatile Fred.

We hammered out our By-Laws, which then enabled us to file official papers and applications:

• Statement of Information with the California Secretary of State
• The "Initial Registration" with the California Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts.
• Employer ID Number with the IRS
• Application for non-profit tax-exempt status with the Calif Franchise Tax Board.
• Open a bank account
• Open an account with PayPal

So finally at this point, we are an official non-profit organization registered in the state of California. And your donations are tax deductible.

I certainly want to thank everyone for the support so far. I am sure we will continue to grow, and become even better known in the Whitney hiking community.

You can donate in the Mt. Whitney Hikers Association information page.

Congrats on getting formally organized. I know from experience its a lot of work. YOu may want to double check on the tax deductibility thing though. i don't know the deal for California taxes, but I do know that for federal taxes and in most states donations are not deductible until all the applications have been made and approved by the state and IRS, a process that normally takes 6 months to a year. A good alternative is to find a fiscal sponsor which already has deductible status to sponsor the new organization while the IRS approval is pending. This makes donations deductible immediately, but they need to be made through the fiscal sponsor, which then usually charges a commissiion for handling the transaction.

The American Hiker's Society is non-profit. http://www.americanhiking.org/

Might be a good start for a fiscal sponsor. But keep in mind: non-profit does not necessarily meant tax deductible (although AHS also happens to have tax-deductible status). Non-Profit is usually just a box checked on filing the state incorporation papers. Tax-deductible status usually has to be granted by state tax authority and always by IRS. For IRS and most states it requires application and approval before you can represent yourself as "tax-deductible". State cannot grant the IRS approval. Only other way is fiscal sponsorship by a tax-deductible organization.

Went through PayPal to donate and it took less than a minute to sign up and pay to join as a WHA Member.

saltydog, I have read through explanations of the IRS 501(c)(3) Tax Exemption rules for charitable organizations, and have followed the rules as closely as possible. Based on the documents I have read, we are legally allowed to operate as a tax-exempt non-profit.

If we ever exceed annual income over $5,000, then we are required to submit the IRS Form 1023, Application for Recognition of Exemption.  (IRS Instructions to Form 1023)  I would already be working on that, except that there is a $400 filing fee!

We are waiting to hear from the CA Franchise Tax Board in response to our filing the equivalent California document, CA Form FTB 3500A.

Good work, Steve. I was assuming that with 400 plus members, at 20 a pop, revenues would be over 5k. We all oughtta support this effort: its certainly worth the 20 bucks. Great effort and great results. Keep it up.

"members" is a count of how many people have registered; A small fraction of that number "joins" the WHA (Whitney Hikers Association) by making the donation.

If we had 5k, then Bob & crew on the China Lake Moutain Rescue Group would probably be wearing new jackets this year!!

I was happy to contribute to such a good and well run cause, although my contribution did cause my heart to skip a beat over the weekend. I signed up to pay last week. On Saturday, I was reviewing my online credit card hits hoping to see some reference to the Whitney Lottery. As I was scanning I saw "MtWhitneyHi" and for a skinny second, thought that my permit application resulted in a charge. Alas, not yet.
Here's hoping that my contribution to the Mt. Whitney Hikers Association brings good karma in the ongoing lottery.

Brent

Donating more brings more karma.

My latest donation was made in order to purchase WHA memberships for my Mt. Whitney hiking buddies, the other Three Angels, (see Trip Report: Three Angeles and One in Training or Three Angels & Simon).

This donation was made easily with a credit card on the Welcome Page. In the ol' days (less than one year ago) a person would have to mail a check to Steve C.

Purchasing a Whitney Hikers Association (WHA) membership for a friend is a wonderful way to donate as well.

We might have to come up with a special T-shirt for Lynn & friends

Thank you Lynn! The two who have registered are set as WHA members.

Done! I've been lurking for the last few weeks, and started posting a few days ago. The info gained for (HOPEFULLY!) my first ascent of Mt. Whitney this summer is more than worth the $20 donation.

Plus, the webcam rocks.

Thanks guys!

Bee, you're very thoughtful, but I and my friends are happy to know the WZ Board of Directors uses every dime donated from all memberships towards maintaining the Whitney Zone and to know that when it's possible, when there are enough donations above and beyond the expenses of the WZ that donations will be used to help Search and Rescue (SAR). The friendships on this forum are priceless.