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“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” ~Japanese Proverb
A little over a month ago, it finally arrived. After a day that caused me to question why I continue to give my time, my money, and my passion for an idea of changing the way we inspire design, engineering, and art in our modern education system (through STEM/STEAM), I opened a thick envelope from the IRS. Could this be the missing piece we have desperately needed for applying to grants and major foundations? It only took moments to read the first few sentences, but the yelp of glee from my lips continued for many more minutes.
After nearly two years of waiting for this letter, with hundreds of volunteer hours plus 14 years of effort on my part put into the development and prototyping of Flying Over Time, a sustainable educational charity meant to integrate teaching science and art through the lens of history, the organization was finally and officially approved as a 501-C3 classified tax-exempt entity.
There is much more to this story, but the coming years will finally see the application of our official mission… (see “Extra! Extra!” on this site). However, there was one special surprise on this letter of final determination that I didn’t notice till three hours after the letter had been scanned. Can you see it? It reminds me and our team that we are doing this for all the right reasons.
Please comment if you notice the amazing coincidence, and the first person will received a free soft cover book.
IRS Final Determination Letter 2 of 2
IRS Final Determination Letter 1 of 2
~n
Great news on receiving the letter from the IRS. It looks like, even though the letter was dated in May, 2013, the IRS allowed your tax-exempt status to begin back on Oct. 11, 2011. I’m sure I wasn’t the first person to see this (so, no free book for me), but I am glad to know that all your hard work has paid off! I look forward to the day when you begin your trans-atlantic flight, to follow the flight path of Charles Lindbergh. Will you begin your flight in Buckeye, AZ?
Thats a bit of a long story, but we will be in Buckeye this Feb. 8th as part of the SciTech Festival. Perhapse you can stop by? ~n