We managed to get one concrete thing done in 2015 before the holidays: incorporating in the state of North Carolina. We've started 2016 by tackling Form 1023, which is the IRS paperwork necessary to request tax-exempt status and classification as a 501(c)(3) public charity. It takes an average of 110 days for the form to be processed, so there's no point doing any software engineering until our Form 1023 is shipped off. I promise I'm not procrastinating!

There's an "EZ" impossibly short version of the 1023, which we were very tempted to use, but it's only good if you don't expect to exceed $50,000 per year in donations for 3 years. Assuming every Charitocracy participant gave the minimum $1 per month, that would mean a maximum of just over 4000 users, even at the end of 3 years. No way, right?! Sadly, if the 1023-EZ is a 1st grade book report, the non-EZ version is a PhD dissertation.

As part of it I need to project financials for 3 years. It's a total stab in the dark, and I don't know whether to be conservative or optimistic in my estimates. This document will become public if/when the IRS grants our tax-exempt determination. Whether I'm way over or way under, you'll all be able to laugh when looking back 3 years from now! But I intend to aim for the sky and try to get us there, unless our accountant talks me back down to Earth.

Now, assuming we get this tome off to the IRS next week, we'll commence two parallel missions for the next 4+ months: (1) build Charitocracy from the ground up, and (2) line up as many prospective participants as possible so we hit the ground running during the first month we're operational. To that end, please like us on Facebook and share with friends and family. There's a Facebook widget on this blog page for your convenience. Facebook likes will make as good a proxy as anything until we're ready to take initial signups! You Facebook holdouts can keep following along on Twitter or email (look for "subscribe to blog via email" on this page).

Jessica expects 100 participants for the first month. I want 500, please. Let's make it a happy new year!