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April 2, 2012; Source: Nieman Journalism Lab

As NPQ has previously reported, journalism projects have recently been running into serious delays in their applications to the IRS for nonprofit status. Some of the problems may have been due to the way that the forms were filled out, so here comes the Digital Media Law Project’s (DMLP) new publication, “Guide to the Internal Revenue Service Decision-Making Process under Section 501(c)(3) for Journalism and Publishing Non-Profit Organizations,” an easy-to-use guide on making a successful application.

Jeff Hermes of the DMLP warns, “Journalism organizations frequently fail to receive exemptions because they either (1) fail to understand the specific legal contours of the educational category, or (2) try to stretch the category to fit their business models rather than design their business models to fit the category.” There are many details to this business model consideration that the guide will walk you through. Interesting reading even if you are not applying! –Ruth McCambridge