CHARITIES:
How to Get a Charity Pre-Qualified So It Can Be Nominated
What kinds of charitable organizations can I nominate?
To be considered for an award, an organization must meet the following criteria:
- It must be a non-profit recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization.
- It must have 501(c)3 status for at least one year
- It must be located in the North Suburban Chicago area which is defined as Evanston to the Wisconsin border, and the lakefront to the western edge of Lake County and the western edge of the applicable portion of Cook County. The majority of the funds must be allocated to providing services in this geographic area.
- It must be willing to send a representative to our next meeting to share how the money was or will be spent, and it must agree not to create, sell, or distribute a list with our members' contact information, and agree not to solicit our members directly for further contributions.
How do I know if my charity satisfies the criteria to be nominated?
- We maintain and are constantly updating a list of local charities that satisfy our criteria. If you would like to nominate a charity, please first check the List of Pre-Qualified Local Charities on our website. If your charity is listed, all you have to do is write your name and the name of the charity on a slip of paper when you attend a meeting. Or if you cannot attend the meeting, let us know which charity you want to nominate.
- If your charity is NOT listed, please fill out the Charity Pre-Qualification Form for Members and submit it to us electronically at least ONE WEEK before our next meeting. Once we confirm that it satisfies the criteria listed above, we will put it on our list and you are free to nominate it.
- One of our organizers will determine if your nominated charity meets our eligibility criteria. Someone will contact you in the next several days if there is a problem with the charity's eligibility. If it meets our criteria it will go on the Pre-Qualified charity list, and you (or any member) are free to nominate it at any meeting. Be sure to check the list to make sure your charity is on the list before coming to the meeting to nominate it.