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I am a member of a professional society, let's say it's the Society Of
Computer Geeks, SOCG. SOCG is a not-for-profit organization.
SOCG has a Web page where members can list their name, a brief
description of their background and professional services, and a link
to their individual Web pages. What we want to do is to advertise in
a local outlet which reaches businesses, and let potential employers
know about our society, and our Web pages. Employers can both list
jobs at our Web site, and can also visit the page where members list
their services.
Recently, the following came across our SOCG society listserve:
"Yesterday John Jones asked whether SOCG chapters are allowed
to create "members-only" job banks on their Web sites. Briefly, the
answer is yes: Chapters may restrict job banks to members only....
Because of SOCG's tax status as a 501(c)(3) [Yes, that is a (3), not
(6), even though we are a professional society, we are registered as a
charity...] charitable organization, a substantial portion of its
activities must be charitable in nature, and must be open to members
and nonmembers alike. However, as stated {elsewhere}:
"The IRS . . . recognizes that while conducting the daily business of
a charity, there will be some activities essential to the charity's
well-being that are not, strictly speaking, charitable in nature. The
IRS allows these activities so long as they do not constitute a
substantial part of the organization's activities. For SOCG, such
activities have included selling advertising (magazine and journal),
renting the mailing list, and providing employment information . . . .
These activities have always constituted an insubstantial part of
SOCG's total activities."
Therefore, chapters may restrict employment information data banks to
members only. Please note, however, that chapters are not allowed to
direct employers specifically to members who are seeking jobs. The IRS
may interpret such an activity as competing with job-placement
services, which would be a violation of SOCG's nonprofit status."
Now, here's my question: "We can't refer employers specifically to
members...."
(a) Does that mean, only, that we can't point employers to this or
that specific member -- we can't say, "Hey, you have a job, hire Steve
O., he'd be great for the job." Or...
(b) Does that mean, much more comprehensively, we cannot advertise to
employers that a Web page exists where they will find specific
information about our members.
It seems to me that (b) should still be okay, since all we are doing
is saying, "Hey, you can look here, and find whomever you might be
interested in working with, and contact them." In (b), we are not
specifically acting as brokers, so I don't see that there should be a
problem.
But, that's why I am here, to ask the question. We want to advertise
our page where local corporations can find the listings of our
member's services. Can we do that, and still keep our not-for-profit,
501(c)(3) charitable organization status?
We also want to advertise that employers can come to our Web site, and
list their jobs with us, for free, on our site. Is that okay?
Thanks in advance for all replies.
Steve O.
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