Retroactive Status, FTB Update, and the Road Ahead

We are happy to announce that the IRS has approved Sacramento Valley Spark as a 501(c)3 Retroactive to June 21, 2012! This was the last part of our efforts to make this great organization a true non-profit promoting the arts, self-expression, and positive social change. We would like to thank all of the many volunteers who have helped make this possible; the past and current boards of SVS, all of the supporting volunteers, our membership, and all of those who went to our fundraisers and made donations.  This was a herculean effort and could not have been completed with out each and every one of you.

We are also happy to announce that all the forms with California’s Franchise Tax Board(FTB) has been properly filed to get us out of suspension. There is a minimum wait time of 90 days before our suspension is lifted. However, thru our meetings with the FTB, legal consul, and certified public accountant, we believe this to be a formality. We have at least one more meeting scheduled with the FTB to review the submitted documents after they have finished processing them.  Once again, this was a huge task for all those involved – navigating the legal and tax codes to get this finalized required many hours of our all volunteer staff. And we thank them all for their tireless efforts.

Our suspended status with the FTB has been clarified. Sacramento Valley Spark is allowed to continue most operations normally. We can pay bills, meet, manage the business, conduct fundraisers,  fund grants, and more. Our biggest restriction is one of liability. Sacramento Valley Spark can not defend itself in court – if we are sued, the board members would be personally liable. We have taken this very seriously which is why the board has properly filled all of the forms to get us out of suspension.

The Road Ahead – The new board of directors for Sacramento Valley Spark have been meeting frequently the past 30 days developing a strategic vision and plan of action to bring this amazing organization to the next level. With our status with the FTB clarified and less than 90 days out from getting back in good standing, we are using this time to lay the groundwork for operational success. Some of them are fun like the new website (still a work in progress!) Other things are not as fun like scanning and cataloguing all of our documents.  However, no matter the task, we are determined to get a solid foundation going so we can have an exciting end of 2016.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months as we update our membership and the general public about all the exciting things that we are working on. Any questions, comments, or concerns can be forwarded to pr@sacvalleyspark.org or sent via Facebook. We thank you for your time and can not wait to show you what is in store.