Month: December 2018

I hope everyone had a very good Holiday Season and that 2019 will be off to a running start. As we continue to mature our Vision and the Foundation we believe it is imperative to have well reasoned and experienced advice. To that end we have established an Executive Advisory Board that will help us as we grow and expand our reach.

We currently have 3 executives committed and are in discussions with a 4th that we hope will come on board shortly. The quality of the executives who will be joining us is impressive and quite humbling. They have extensive experience in running large organizations in the government and private industry. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and all bring a unique view and vision to the Foundation.

They also are quite experienced in developing strategic plans, fundraising for not for profits as well as sitting on multiple not for profit boards. We are truly looking forward to working with them as we continue to move onward with the foundation.

You can view their history and bios here:

https://www.nikolasfoundation.org/executive-advisory-board/

Welcome aboard and thanks for your commitment !

We came out of ‘stealth’ mode last weekend and have been pleasantly surprised at our fund raising. We have a goal for the first year of $50,000 and we are well on our way there. We have had some good meetings with one of the local school districts and it looks like we will be meeting with their Special Needs parents group at the next monthly meeting. We also had a great discussion about what the school system may need. It is a way we might be able to help multiple families.

Interestingly, he stated that federal and state government fund playgrounds all the time. Unfortunately, all these funded playgrounds are for regular children. He stated that his wish list is to find a way to fund ‘adaptive’ playgrounds so his special needs children and families would have a place to go. We are going to do some research to see how we might be able to help.

Stay tuned, it will only get better!

November 21, 2018 we received our Determination Letter from the IRS confirming we meet all the criteria for federal tax exemption. Even though we have had the 501 (c)(3) corporation established for over 6 weeks it is not considered official until  you file a form 1023 with the IRS. We filed that form about 3 weeks ago and received the letter this week (see picture). We can now take donations and, as an official not for profit, you can deduct those donations from your federal income taxes. We look forward to now moving forward to fulfill our mission statement “Helping special needs children and their families, up close and personal”

Watch here for updates as we begin to fund raise and identify families in need.