Arizona Articles Of Incorporation: Fill & Download for Free

OK, OK, several killjoys have pointed out that you don’t actually get a lei when you arrive in Hawaii, unless your friends bring you one, or you pay for one in advance as part of a tour package.But let’s answer the question as it was asked: hypothetically, what traditional gifts should you receive in each state, as soon as you crossed the border or stepped off the plane? EDIT: As of now I still don’t have all fifty states represented, but I’ve taken suggestions from the comments section, reworking some of them, and will add more as time goes by.Louisiana: A large colorful plastic bead necklace. But only if you’re female and attractive, and only if you. . . well, never mind.New Mexico: A traditional ristra of dried chile peppers, which you must eat within thirty minutes if you want to be allowed to stay.Texas: A plate of barbecued brisket, marred by a ten-minute harangue about how Texas could secede any time it wanted to and is only hanging around with the other, lesser 49 states because it feels like it, by damn.Northern California: A small, decorative window box, made of sustainably harvested, ethically sourced, fair-trade timber, carved and painted with traditional shamanic designs by a cooperative of indigenous craftspeople from a proud but struggling Third World nation, and planted with organically grown heirloom variety culinary herbs. If you’re moving to the Bay Area, it can double as your apartment.Southern California: A Botox injection, a double-double animal style, and fifty gallons of free water (courtesy of Northern California).Oregon: On the west side of the Cascades, you get a starter culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) for making your own kombucha. On the east side of the Cascades, you get a rifle.Washington state: A ceremonial evergreen branch and a venti coffee that’s not actually all that good, delivered by a drone dropped from a 747.Nevada: A $10 voucher for the slot machines at the airport departure gates. For every jackpot you win, you are allowed to reclaim one piece of your luggage.Florida: A live baby alligator—inserted down your trousers, because the headlines have just been too prosaic lately.Georgia: A bumper sticker proclaiming “GEORGIA—The Best of Both Worlds! Soulless urban sprawl AND backwards hovels!” (Also: Virginia.)Tennessee: A Day-Glo orange vest, for wearing to the football game on Saturday, and picking up roadside trash the rest of the week.Kentucky: A model race car, in honor of the most famous sporting event in. . . no, wait, is that Indiana? I thought Indiana was the one with the horses. . . well, it’s one or the other, anyway.North Carolina: A souvenir basketball dipped in that weird vinegary barbecue sauce.South Carolina: Immediate conscription into the 15th South Carolina Infantry, which, technically, never did surrender in 1865, and whose commander has just decided the time is right for a swift and decisive bayonet charge against the hated Yankee occupation forces’ encampment on Parris Island.Maryland: A case of crabs. And also, a case of crabs.Pennsylvania: A small plastic statue, suitable for display on your car’s dashboard, of your choice of one of the patron saints of the state: St. Franco Harris, St. Reggie White, or St. Rosey Greer.West Virginia: A scale model of a majestic mountain. To add extra realism, a small dynamite charge is packed inside. In three days, the top will blow off, the model will be left a toxic ruin, you’ll mysteriously get cancer, and Don Blankenship will be a few million dollars richer.Wisconsin: A bust of Vince Lombardi carved from cheese curds.Michigan: A souvenir vial of water. Do not drink it under any circumstances.Iowa: A breaded pork tenderloin sandwich from the deli at your local Hy-Vee—where there’s a helpful smile in every aisle!Indiana: A free sampler of Eli Lilly’s latest product line. Kind of like a chocolate sampler, but nothing is labeled; you just take one and see how you like the results.Illinois: A tax invoice. You don’t need to ask what it’s for.Ohio: Your city is gone. Hey, oh, way to go, Ohio.Minnesota: A warm, filling tuna casserole, served with mild-mannered courtesy that probably masks seething resentment.Nebraska: A wreath woven of corn leaves, tassels, and ears, placed on your head just before your blood is ritually spilled in the fields to bring bountiful crops and appease the spirits of the harvest.North Dakota: We’re not sure, but durum wheat is apparently involved.South Dakota: A title deed to your very own 160 acres of the sacred land of the Lakota nation, stolen from them at gunpoint.Wyoming: A little dogie, whatever that is.Alaska: It used to be that every visitor to the state would receive a traditional delicacy: seal testicles skewered on an oosik. Unfortunately, declining revenues from the Permanent Fund mean that new customs had to be developed. Now, every visitor to The Last Frontier is ceremonially beaten with a smelt by Alaskans shouting their traditional war chant, “You betcha!”Colorado: You can’t quite remember, but dude, it was primo shit, man. Got any more of that pizza?Delaware: Articles of incorporation.New Jersey: What? You’s expectin’ some goddamn present jus’ f’comin’ here? I got somethin’ for ya right here, pal!New York City: A fast, fun and entertaining card game against a smiling, friendly challenger. Only three cards are involved. You can’t lose!New York State: Something called a “Garbage Plate.” I wouldn’t ask if I were you.Vermont: A speeding ticket. Don’t you know that we tracked your plane arriving at 150 miles per hour? That’s an automatic $1000 fine and three points on your license, sir.New Hampshire: Indifference.Maine: Paul LePage, but only if you promise to take him with you when you leave.Rhode Island: A souvenir T-shirt saying “YES, WE ACTUALLY DO EXIST.”Massachusetts: A piping hot bowl of clam chowder. Unfortunately, you’re responsible for paying the tax on it.Utah: A copy of the Book of Mormon, written on golden plates in Reformed Egyptian, with your own personal Urim and Thummim to help you read it. If you don’t like it, you get a personal visit from John D. Lee under a flag of truce.Kansas: Puzzled looks from people wondering why in the world anyone would voluntarily visit Kansas.Idaho: A traditional item of fine Idaho jewelry: a necklace, handcrafted from three pounds of russet potatoes strung on a three-foot length of WF flyfishing line.Washington DC: A free ticket to the Presidential Inauguration, retroactive to January 20, 2017. See, it really was the biggest inaugural crowd in history!Montana: Your very own emotional support sheep.Arizona: Immediate deportation if you’re caught speaking Spanish in Maricopa County.Arkansas: A torn Wal-Mart plastic bag containing a rock of crystal meth.Alabama: A friendly invitation to squeal like a pig.Missouri: Sincere condolences.Oklahoma: A frontal lobotomy.Mississippi: Gonorrhea.

The best state is the state you will operate your 501c3 from. Otherwise, if you live in let's say, Florida but you register a 501c3 corporation in Georgia, you will need to file as a foreign entity in Florida to do business there.Cost wise, I found Arizona the most expensive, and not due to the filing fee. In AZ, you still need to publish your Articles in a newspaper (archaic I know), and to be 501c3, you need specific articles to be eligible. This makes running your Articles expensive, which for me would have cost over $300 for the publication alone. Not good for a small non-profit looking to get started.

Nonprofit organizations generally must have a board of directors. Find three other people who have knowledge, skills, and abilities that can help the organization and are willing to serve on the board of directors to oversee the organization.Hold the first official meeting of your organization’s board of directors. Elect a president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. The president will lead the organization and organize meetings. The vice president leads when the president is unavailable. The treasurer is in charge of overseeing the finances of the organization, preparing financial reports, and making sure all returns are filed promptly with governmental agencies. The secretary keeps important documents and records minutes of meetings. Determine the organization’s mission, vision, and methods of fundraising. Determine who will accept mail on the organization’s behalf (registered agent). Determine what resources (financial and otherwise) the organization needs to fulfill its mission. Prepare the organization’s first year’s budget.Formally incorporate the organization. It is virtually always best to incorporate in the state in which the organization primarily operates. For example, to incorporate in Virginia, you could complete a Form SCC819 (Articles of Incorporation) to incorporate, and send it to the Virginia State Corporation Commission with a $70 filing fee. https://www.scc.virginia.gov/publicforms/207/scc819.pdf After preparing the Articles of Incorporation, have a formal vote to adopt the Articles of Incorporation. (Keep in mind that most states use the term “non-stock corporation” instead of nonprofit organization)Write the organization’s bylaws. Bylaws detail how the organization operates. Bylaws generally include the name of the organization, the mission of the organization, the officers that the organization will have, the duties of each officer, how officers are elected, how long officers serve, whether there will be members of the organization and membership dues to be paid by members, when meetings will be held, how meetings will be conducted, how the organization’s finances will be managed, what fiscal year the organization will use, how often financial reports will be prepared and presented, how the bylaws may be amended, indemnification of officers, whether the officers will be compensated for their work, whether the organization may have any paid employees, a conflict of interest policy, a nondiscrimination policy, what happens if an officer resigns, and what happens if the organization ceases to exist. After writing the bylaws, have a formal vote to adopt the bylaws. (Keep in mind that, many nonprofit organizations are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations so that donors’ contributions are tax-deductible. If this applies to your organization, then the IRS requires certain language in the organization’s bylaws regarding the organization’s purpose and provisions upon its dissolution. See Part III in IRS Form 1023 for more information. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf )When the state writes back to you to say the organization is officially organized, decide which bank the organization will have a bank account, and open a corporate checking account there. The bank will ask to see the letter of incorporation from the state and the secretary’s minutes from the meeting when officers were elected.Forty states require a nonprofit organization to apply to solicit charitable contributions from its residents. For example, Virginia requires an organization to register with Form 102 along with a $100 initial filing fee. There is also an annual renewal and filing fee of between $30 and $325 per year thereafter. http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pdf/oca102registrationstatement.pdf Alternatively, certain organizations can file a Form 100 instead with a $10 filing fee. http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pdf/oca100exemption.pdf (The ten states that do not require this type of registration are Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming.) When the state approves the organization’s charitable solicitation registration, the organization can begin asking individuals, corporations, and other nonprofit organizations located in that state for charitable contributions.Generally, within 27 months of formation, the organization should apply for 501(c)(3) recognition from the Internal Revenue Service using either Form 1023 ( https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1023.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf ) or Form 1023-EZ ( https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1023ez.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023ez.pdf ). Very small organizations need not apply, but almost all other organizations should. The filing fee is $850 for most organizations. The Internal Revenue Service often takes six to nine months to process and approve the application, but sometimes it can take as little as six weeks. Sometimes the IRS will ask for further information. When the IRS sends a letter recognizing the organization’s 501(c)(3) status, do a little dance, and keep the letter in a safe place. Also keep a copy of the Form 1023 or Form 1023-EZ that was filed. Some donors may want to see them. 501(c)(3) is usually made retroactive to the organization’s date of formation. File a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, or 990-N with the IRS every year, within four months fifteen days of the end of the organization’s fiscal year. Keep copies of previously filed forms in case a member of the public asks to see them. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i990.pdf (Alternatively, if your organization wants to file as a different type of nonprofit, it may want to file a Form 1024 with the IRS instead. Donations to other types of nonprofit organizations are almost never tax-deductible to the donor though. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1024.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1024.pdf)Good luck!