HOW TO…Become a Nonprofit Corporation
□ File articles of incorporation with the state in which the organization will be located.
□ Adopt bylaws.
□ Hold an organizational meeting of directors to appoint officers and directors.
□ Apply for a federal tax ID number (Form SS-4).
□ File IRS Form 1023 with the IRS with all applicable schedules.
Joint Ventures and Corporate Partnerships
Relationships among entities can take many forms, such as joint ventures, in which two or more companies combine forces to engage in a specific business venture. Businesses form these types of relationships for specific projects in which a combined effort is beneficial, but the parties do not want to merge their businesses or have a long-term relationship.
For example, one company may be in the business of inventing products and another may be in the business of manufacturing and marketing products. An agreement between the two companies can avoid needless duplication of services and allow each company to focus on what it does best.
Joint venture relationships also serve the purpose of cutting costs for a start-up company and essentially form a source of financing. The amount of money you need to raise to invent, manufacture, and market a product is a great deal more than you need just to invent and then outsource the rest. Generally, joint ventures are taxed as partnerships.
Corporate partnering arrangements usually occur when a start-up company receives products or services from an established company in exchange for equity in the start-up or deferred payments, but there can be many variations on this theme.
|
......... ...... ...................... ......... ......... ................. N |
|
|
Specialized Relationships: Other types of |
|
|
Relationships between companies could include: |
|
|
• marketing agreements; |
|
|
M / |
—Tl • distribution agreements; |
|
SyAl 1 • license agreements; |
|
|
• R&D agreements; |
|
|
• manufacturing or supply agreements; |
|
|
• outsourcing agreements; or, |
|
|
• facility management agreements. |
|
|
V |
J |
Always exercise caution when forming a relationship with another company. Not every deal is a good deal, and often the details that you overlook will be the ones that come back to haunt you. Think through the plan before you start, determine what you want to accomplish, and always get the deal in writing. Keep your options open until the deal is done, and do not forget to plan an exit strategy for the partnership.
