Book Awards
Question—-Our club has considered giving “book awards” as a means of encouraging meeting attendance. At each meeting attended, our members would have the opportunity to submit their students’ names for a drawing. The drawing would be held at the end of each semester and “book awards” or gift certificates to College Station area bookstores (for book and school supply purchases) would be awarded to the winning students. Have other clubs used this idea with success? Answer: Remember, as a 501(C)(3) organization, you cannot reward members solely for attendance. Also, your club’s mission and purpose are to support Texas A&M and Aggie students from your area. Therefore, you should refrain from initiating any reward program that would benefit only your members because that would be inconsistent with tax-exempt organization guidelines.
Club Membership
Q1. How does a new Aggie Mom determine if there is an Aggie Moms’ Club in her area?
Answer: Visit our List of Clubs and Map of Clubs pages here or contact the Federation First Vice President
Q2. If there is not an Aggie Moms’ Club nearby, how does a new Aggie Mom get “adopted” by an Aggie Moms’ Club?
Answer: Visit our Adopt-A-Mom Program page to read details of the program.
Q3. Can an Aggie Dad participate in the Adopt-A-Mom Program?
Answer: Yes, in a situation where there is not a mother. Please follow the procedure described in the Answer to Question 2.
Q4. Can out-of-state students whose parents are in the Adopt-A-Mom Program be considered for a scholarship through the adopting club?
Answer: Each Member Club has Bylaws and/or Guidelines regarding eligibility for a scholarship from the club. These documents should be consulted to determine if the Adopted Aggie is eligible to apply for a scholarship.
Q5. Can Aggie Moms who do not have a nearby Aggie Moms’ Club or families who are in the military and stationed overseas form their own Aggie Moms’ Club?
Answer: Yes, if you are interested, please contact the Federation First Vice President for details and approval.
Student Organizations
2025 Student Organization List
1. Must a local Club obtain both Board and Member approval for year-end donations?
Answer: You should review your By-laws for you local Club and if there is no specific reserve power to the members with respect to approving year-end donation, approval by the Board should be adequate.
2. If members of student organizations travel to a local Club to make a presentation or present a program, is it permissible for the local Club to cover their travel expenses with a mileage reimbursement or gas card? Is this considered deemed income to the student?
Answer: Yes, the Club should follow the IRS rules on reimbursement for mileage, which is currently 50 cents per mile (3/09). The gas card or reimbursement is not deemed income, but reimbursement of expenses.
3. Our Club has received requests for donations from clubs that are not listed on the Student Organization lists. How do we handle this? Can we give a donation that is not listed?
Answer: There are about 800 organizations on campus. The mission and purpose of the Federation and each local club is to support Texas A&M and its students and giving to those student organizations certainly complies with our mission. However, those organizations may become University recognized and then lose their University recognition quite often, depending on whether they are diligently keeping up with the requirements for recognition set forth by the Student Activities office. If you are wondering about an organization’s University recognition status check the student activities website. Each organization is listed and it’s current status. There may be some organizations on the Accounts Chart on the Federation website that are no longer recognized and vice versa. We will update that list each February, but it will undoubtedly be out of date by the next month. The website search link to check an organization’s recognition status is: https://studentactivities.tamu.edu/online/search/index
Even though the vast majority of the organizations that other Aggie Moms Clubs give to are on campus and University recognized, each year a few dollars are also given to organizations that are not University recognized and a few that are off campus, such as Breakaway Ministries, other groups or events at the surrounding churches and the off campus bonfire. It’s up to your club whether to make donations to these organizations. For each particular situation, ask your club’s members and/or board to determine whether giving to one of these organizations complies with your club’s mission and current By-Laws. A few of these clubs are listed at the bottom of the list provided by the Foundation on our website aggiemoms.aggienetwork.com.
If you are giving a donation to an organization that is not University recognized and off campus, request a receipt. If it is an organization that is on campus, but not University recognized, you can still give through the A&M Foundation. It is recommended that you make your donations to on campus organizations through the A&M Foundation because you always get good paperwork for tax purposes. Just send the Foundation a check and a cover letter telling them how to distribute the funds. They are normally very timely in depositing the funds into the organization accounts. Check the instructions on the Form E on the Federation website.
2. Our club receives a lot of letters mainly by email from different organizations, clubs, sororities etc. asking for monetary donations, auction items, lunch bags and other items. Many of these events such as the “Saddle and Sirloin” club are hosting an event in February and are asking for snacks and or money to help them make this event successful. Our club typically decides in March or April who to give money to. In the past we have given to Carpool, Rudders Rangers, Singing Cadets and many more but all of these groups are ongoing organizations. Do you know of any “Aggie Mom” clubs that give to organizations through out the year or are most clubs like ours that only give to groups that they have previously voted on in the spring.
Answer: All of these clubs would be overjoyed with any donation that they receive and at any time, so do what works best with your Aggie Moms Club. You should not feel pressured into matching an organization’s event timing if it makes things more complicated for your process. Also, a donation to the example Saddle and Sirloin event is actually a donation to Saddle and Sirloin (an ongoing organization). In this case, you may decide to help them with a donation or decide that you can’t help them this year, but give money to them at the end of the year with your other donations to aid them in the event next year. It is truly up to your club to do what you think that your club would want done with your funds set aside for organization donations.
If you are giving a monetary donation, I recommend that you give it through the A&M Foundation with a letter indicating to which organization you wish to give the donation. The donation paper trail is best through the A&M Foundation for tax purposes.
As far as giving auction items, snacks, etc. to clubs, that is also done differently by each Aggie Moms Club. Organizations are less consistent about giving receipts for those types of donations.
Last, make sure that what you are doing is in accordance with you Club’s current By-Laws or — does it indicate the need for a By-Laws revision?
Goody Bags/Finals Bags/Care Packages
1. Our club’s finals bags are not provided through the spending of our dues. Our bags are purchased by members and non-members. Bags and the goodies to stuff them are purchased with these funds. Is there any reason this could not be conducted as a fundraiser? Can a higher price be charged to non-members?
Answer: If the sale and distribution of your finals bags or goody bags is a large enough operation that it is handled through your treasury, then it should be conducted as a fundraiser. I do not know if there are any definitive guidelines on how much the profit/expense ratio should be for a fundraiser. We charge 20% more than the cost of the goody bag and included items for our delivered product. Please remember that if you do use this as a fundraiser you must also add sales tax to this unless it is one of your tax free days.
IRS Filings/990/501c3 Status
Q1. Does every Club, no matter the size, need to file a Form 990-N?
Answer: Yes, there is a requirement that all tax-exempt entities, as well as clubs affiliated with those entities under the same exemption, must file a Form 990-N regardless of the amount of revenues they have generated for the year. The filing is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after the fiscal year end for the club. For example, if your fiscal year ends May 31st (as do most clubs in order to coincide with the end of the school year), your 990-N is due on October 15th.
Q2. Beginning with tax years ending on or after December 31, 2007, every Club must file an annual information form with the IRS regardless of the amount of gross receipts or income generated by the Club. The amount of gross receipts determines the specific type of form to file. What revenues should be included in this gross receipts total?
Answer: All revenue that goes through the Club’s account should be included in the gross receipts calculation. This includes dues, revenues from fundraising activities, donations, sale of goody bag revenues, funds for social events, etc. The only funds not included in the calculation are those that are not payable to the Club, but instead to an individual member. For example, if there is a social event and funds are collected for that event, those checks could be made payable to the individual in charge of that event, in which case they would not constitute revenue of the Club.
Q3.With all our clubs now being required to file an annual information form with the IRS for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2007, how does our club figure out its tax year end?
Answer: The end of the Federation tax year is May 31st, and it is likely a number of the clubs have chosen this same tax year end date. Places to look for your tax year end include the Bylaws of the Club as well as resolutions adopted by the Board at the time of its organization. If you ultimately cannot find information regarding the tax year, it would be advisable for the Board to adopt a resolution to select a tax year and then make the filing with the IRS according to that chosen tax year.
State Sales Tax
1. Is each local Club responsible for paying State Sales Tax and Franchise Tax?
Answer: Yes, each club is responsible for contacting the Comptroller’s Office to file the necessary form to let the Comptroller know that you are part of the Federation’s tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3). By notifying the State, you are then exempt from franchise tax, which is the tax collected on revenues generated at the State level. Even though you are part of a tax-exempt entity, if your club were to sell goods or merchandise, you would be required to collect sales tax on those items and remit the sales tax to the Comptroller. It is due on a quarterly basis.
2. How do I apply for a State Sales Tax application for my club?
Answer: Log onto www.window.state.tx.us. In the left hand column you should see SALES & USE TAX. Click here, next click SALES TAX PERMIT and begin. These screens will basically walk you through the sales tax registration. All you should need is your club’s EIN# and the GEN#, which is 7128.
3. Is our Club subject to collection of sales tax in connection with the sale of tangible goods?
Answer: Yes, but each tax-exempt organization may have up to two tax-free days per year and most clubs decide to utilize the tax-free days in conjunction with Aggie Mom Boutique. Therefore, to the extent your club sells goody bags, crafts, jewelry or other tangible goods, you should be collecting sales tax from the buyers of those goods and filing the appropriate reports with the Comptroller of Public Accounts. You do not need to collect sales tax on ticket sales such as the sale of tickets for a Singing Cadets concert.
4. How do I know how much State Tax to charge?
Answer: You should charge the amount of State Tax due to the county that the tangible good is sold in.
5. If a Club sells items over its website, must it collect sales tax on the items sold?
Answer: If the Club is based in Texas and the goods are shipped from Texas, you must collect sales tax on the items sold. The only exception to this is sales on one of the two tax-free days each calendar year that most Clubs use for Boutique weekend.
6. Are silent auction items subject to sales tax?
Answer: Yes that is why it is advisable to do silent auctions on one of the two allowed annual tax-free days.
7. Are the proceeds received from raffles subject to taxes?
Answer: The proceeds received from your raffles do constitute revenues for your club and these should be reported on the Federal IRS Form 990-N. So long as you remain compliant with the requirements of tax-exempt entities, you will not be taxed at the federal level on the income received. A raffle is simply buying a chance to win, and buying that chance is not tax deductible to the person buying the chance. Your statement that you are limiting your raffles to 2 times each calendar year will enable you to refrain from complying with numerous rules and regulations on raffles otherwise.
There is no sales tax on the raffle since you are not selling an item, merchandise or goods, but instead a chance to win something, you would not owe sales tax and therefore you would not collect sales tax from the person buying the raffle ticket.
