So glad you asked! Unlike the misleading information found all over the Internet, there's a little-known IRS policy that allows you to start fundraising much sooner than previously believed.

The IRS' official policy is to "back-date" your 501(c)3Tax-Exempt Status to the date when we file your Articles of Incorporation.

This means that your donors (both individual and corporate) can get a tax break by donating to you even BEFORE you receive your IRS Approval letter in the mail!

Every Nonprofit Launch Package comes with a document containing the exact IRS rule that makes this possible, so you can use it to raise money right away!

Absolutely! Montessori schools are prime candidates for 501(c)3 educational nonprofit status. Educational organizations that serve the public good through teaching and learning qualify under IRS Section 501(c)3.

Your Montessori school will be classified as an educational organization, which allows you to:

• Accept tax-deductible donations from families and supporters
• Apply for educational grants and foundation funding
• Potentially qualify for property tax exemptions
• Access discounted or free educational resources

We specialize in educational nonprofits and understand the unique requirements for schools, including the specific language needed in your articles of incorporation and bylaws.

Unfortunately, educational organizations like schools cannot use the streamlined Form 1023-EZ. The IRS requires all schools to file the full Form 1023 application, regardless of their expected annual revenue.

This is because schools have additional requirements:

• Non-discrimination policies for students and faculty
• Specific educational purpose language
• Detailed curriculum and educational program descriptions
• School governance and administrative structure

While this means more paperwork, it also means your school will have rock-solid legal foundation. We handle all these complex requirements for you, ensuring your application is complete and compliant.

Your 501(c)3 status operates at the federal level, but you'll also need to comply with your state's education requirements if you're planning to operate as a school.

Here's what you need to know:

• Federal 501(c)3 status is separate from state education licensing
• Each state has different requirements for private schools
• Some states require teacher certification, curriculum approval, or facility inspections
• Other states have minimal oversight for private schools

We help you establish the proper federal nonprofit foundation, and we can point you toward the right state resources for educational compliance. Our Educational Founder's Playbook includes a state-by-state guide to education requirements.

Getting your federal nonprofit status first actually makes the state process easier, as it demonstrates your school's legitimacy and structure. in the current tax year, or any of the following two tax years (these qualify for our Enterprise Plan)
One for organizations with expected donations below $100,000/year (or do not have a clear path to exceed that amount (these qualify for our Express Plan)

About 82% of our customers qualify for the Streamlined IRS Application for Tax Exempt Status, while the other 18% must use the Long-Form 1023 Process (see Enterprise and Evolved).

If you are a small, local or limited-funds founder with a modest projected budget and scope of activities, choose the Express Launch Package. If you exceed your wildest fundraising dreams under this Package, don't worry! There is no penalty, and you do not have to re-file a thing! You will simply report your donations to the IRS in the following year as normal.

However, if you have a projected budget larger than $100k in 2023, 2024 or 2025, you will choose between Enterprise and Evolved.

Enterprise certainly gets the job done and as you can see on this page, it includes far more than other offerings of providers who claim to be effective at creating 501(c)3 organizations.

But for those proven leaders who want to get out of the gate faster and more effectively to maximize their impact, by getting support not only for creating the organization and covering the required items - there is the premium Evolved Launch Package.

With Evolved, once we file your IRS application, we move on to coaching and training, and together we embark on the two other major pillars of your nonprofit's success:

1) We build your organization's Case For Support (by wrapping up Mission Vision, Values, Milestones and Strategy into a set of "North Star" guiding documents), and
2) We guide you through our Fundraising Masterclass, so you can have the Tools, the Strategy, and the Assets to go from zero to $1 Million or more in your first 12 months.

Learn more details, choose the right plan for you, and get started by clicking "Get Plans & Pricing" on this page.

Educational organizations using the full Form 1023 typically take 8-20 weeks for IRS processing, but our education-specific approach often speeds this up.

Here's our typical timeline:

• State incorporation: 2-12 weeks (varies by state)
• IRS application review: 8-20 weeks
• Total timeline: 3-8 months from start to finish

We submit a comprehensive application package that anticipates common IRS questions about schools, which reduces the chance of follow-up requests that can delay approval.

Remember, you can begin many school activities and even accept donations while your application is pending - we'll show you exactly what you can and cannot do during the waiting period.

Yes! This is crucial for school founders. You can begin fundraising immediately after incorporating, even before IRS approval.

Here's what you need to know:

• You can accept donations once incorporated at the state level
• Donors cannot claim tax deductions until IRS approval
• You must inform donors their gifts aren't yet tax-deductible
• Keep detailed records of all pre-approval donations

We provide you with sample donor communications and receipt templates that properly disclose the tax-deduction status. Many successful schools raise significant funds during their application period.

Our Educational Founder's Playbook includes a complete guide to pre-approval fundraising, including template letters, donor agreements, and compliance guidelines specifically for schools. because of our "love letter to a bureaucrat" approach.

We don't just rely on the IRS online process - we also attach a back-up PDF file averaging 54 pages - containing concise, clear articulation of your organization's activities, so that the IRS agent who reviews your file feels relieved by the file's professional, organized layout, and hits the "APPROVED" button without issues or further questions.

There are two ways to look at how long it takes:

1. Your investment of time and work
2. Our submission time, as well as the state and federal government to process the paperwork once it is filed

In any case, we take a long and arduous process, involving complex government forms and confusing bureaucratic language, and translate it into the kind of English that you and I would share over a cup of coffee.

Depending on the version of the IRS 1023 Application for Tax Exempt Status we prepare for you, our investment of time and work to get all of the paperwork done is as follows:

Your time investment if using the streamlined IRS Application:
Less than 1/2 hour, on average
Long-Form: About 90 minutes on average

Our staff's turnaround times:
On average, once we have the information, we need from you, our staff double-checks for accuracy and any potential errors or conflicts and submits within 48-72 hours.

State Incorporation:


Since the COVID pandemic, the wait time to receive recorded Articles of Incorporation have changed; here's the average times we experience currently:
Florida: 6-12 Weeks (yes, that is ridiculous)


AL, AZ, CT, DC, GA, IL, IA, MI, NE, NY, ND, PA, SD: 2-4 weeks


All other states: 2-3 days to 2 weeks
IRS Processing times:


Meanwhile, IRS delays can vary widely, and with our proven Rapid Approval process, times are as follows:

Streamlined: 6-10 weeks on average


Long-Form: 8-20 weeks, on average