We are now official

corporate status approved by the State of Alaska

I know it is not very exciting to most, but the State of Alaska just approved our filing to be a Non-profit Corporation.  We still have to finish our application to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for our non-profit status but this first step of being incorporated is a start.  Incorporation means we can get a business license, open a bank account and all of those important things which make a business run.

Some of us on the bus have formed a corporation called the Alaska Brain Injury Consortium (ABIC) to be an umbrella organization to support the brain bus, and potentially other projects to help those with brain injury.  This corporation wil provide us with an avenue to be a non-profit, apply for grants and do other things to support the bus and its mission. 

The behind the scenes paperwork is not as glamorous as installing the slide out refrigerator in the bus or hooking up a hot water heater, but it is just as essential to the success of the Brain Bus.  While my preference is to work on building out the bus, I am enjoying the challenge of applying for IRS non-profit status.  It is hundreds of pages of documentation which forces us as the Alaska Brain Injury Consortium (now an Alaska Non-profit Corporation!) to be very clear on what we are doing and how we are doing it.  It is an opportunity for each of us to weigh in on what we think is important and how we should work moving forward. 

It will be nice to have the IRS application done for sure but as they say, it is the journey and not the destination, which often brings the greatest rewards. Certainly, the journey of the Brain Bus has been very rewarding so far and it has just barely begun!