Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Hardship funds/resources

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

I am Also at Mosaic, where as Buzz and Liz have said we have a good
neighbor fund. I'm the bookkeeper and treasurer. One of the reasons we are
keeping the good neighbor fund separate from our HOA accounts is because I
couldn't figure out a good way to deal with it from a tax perspective. On
paper (1190-h) it looks like non-exempt income, taxed at 30%. So instead,
volunteers are dealing with it separately without formal organization.

If other organizations have a similar fund, but are including it in their
HOA books, can you tell me how that works for you?

Thanks,
Diana.

On Fri, Mar 22, 2024 at 9:01 AM Buzz Harris via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> Hi Ruby.
> We have such a fund at Mosaic Commons.  It's called the Good Neighbor Fund.
> Members of the community who want to contribute give either a monthly
> amount or occasional one-time gifts.  It's administered by three of our
> members.  Those in need make private (and, I believe, confidential)
> requests to the Fund for assistance if they need it.  I believe that the
> funds are kept in a private account at a local financial institution and
> tracked by the three member body.
> The Fund reports to the community from time to time on how much money
> they've issued in grants, but not to whom.  They also let us know when they
> need additional funds.
> Speaking as someone who has worked in the nonprofit/public interest world
> for a long time, I am not aware of any reason that a 501(c)(3) public
> charity could not issue cash grants to people in financial need.  I think
> that the way we handle it is simpler than creating a (c)(3) for the
> purpose, but to the best of my knowledge you could.
> If you want more detail about the Good Neighbor Fund I could ask one of my
> neighbors to give you more details.
> Thanks,
> BuzzMosaic Commons CohousingBerlin, MA
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Buzz Harris
>
>
> What used to be called liberal is now called radical,
> What used to be called radical is now called insane,
> What used to be called reactionary is now called moderate, and
> What used to be called insane is now called solid conservative thinking.
>
> -Tony Kushner
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>     On Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 03:50:02 PM EDT, Ruby Reay <
> rurubux [at] hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Hello all,
>
> I am curious how communities deal with financial hardship experienced by
> their residents, specifically, do any of you have a fund that is used for
> such things, and if so, how to do approach the accounting of such a fund. I
> am thinking non-profits can't do such things, so there might be
> alternatives. I am aware that religious organizations (churches) have
> hardship funds/resources and have a means of accounting for them.
>
> At any rate, curious to hear what others are doing.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ruby Reay
> Phoenix Commons
> Oakland, CA
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