IPNSIG now tax exempt

IPNSIG Receives Tax Exempt Status from the US Internal Revenue Service

The Interplanetary Networking Special Interest Group (IPNSIG) has received confirmation from the US Internal Revenue Service that it is now qualified to operate as a non-profit, charitable, tax-exempt organization. In simple terms, this means that donations to IPNSIG can be treated by donors as tax-deductible contributions for US Federal Income Tax purposes. The IPNSIG Board believes that this status will provide additional incentive for supporters to provide resources that allow IPNSIG to accomplish its primary mission: to help standardize and demonstrate the readiness of the Bundle Protocol Suite to support the implementation of a Solar System Internet that can, in turn, support the exploration and eventual colonization of the Solar System.

This was also the last major milestone to accomplish in order to formalize our status as an Internet Society Chapter (rather than a SIG). ISOC has changed the way they manage SIGs, and it made more sense for us to continue our affiliation with the Internet Society as a Chapter. However, we will be retaining the name IPNSIG in order to avoid confusion with many of our external friends, who have been used to referring to us as IPNSIG for over twenty years. We are incorporated in the State of California as IPNSIG, Inc.

We want to thank especially our Secretary/Treasurer, Michael Snell, for his persistent due diligence in accomplishing this registration.

Yosuke Kaneko, on behalf of the IPNSIG Board