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vmichaels · Jan 19, 2012, 04:25 PM

My daughter is on the dance team at a studio in our community. This year they started a parent run 501c3 organization to raise funds to support expenses associated with the dance team. They have required that each dance team family pay $25.00 in "membership" dues per semester. In talking with the owner of the dance studio, there is no option to not join and not pay these dues even though I believe that "membership" will not be beneficial to our family. Are there any rules about this? Can a 501c3 organization require a patron of a business to be a "member" of their support organization and pay dues?

AK lawyer · Jan 19, 2012, 10:02 PM

Originally Posted by vmichaels

... Can a 501c3 organization require a patron of a business to be a "member" of their support organization and pay dues?

Or, to put it another way, can the business refuse to do business with customers who are not members of the 501 (c) (3) "support" organization? It seems to me that such a cozy relationship would put the support organization's non-profit status in question. One might view it as a branch, in effect, of the (for profit) studio. I don't know, but the I.R.S.'s 501 (3) (c) department could tell you. Contact them and ask.

Fr_Chuck · Jan 19, 2012, 10:09 PM

The 501c3 can not require you to be a member.

The school can restrict membership to only people who are members of that group.

Example, my Karate Studio. You have to be a member of the American Open Martital Arts ( www.aoma.us) to be a student in my school. We will not accept any student who will not join. In fact we require membership in two of our four after school programs.

If a person does not want to be a member ( 14 dollar per year fee) they can not take our classes.

So the dance team ( or studio) has made that choice to only teach students who belong to that 501c3.

You can complain to the owner of the studio, you can take your business to another dance studio.

ebaines · Jan 20, 2012, 11:22 AM

I agree with Fr-Chuck - nothing wrong with a 501(c)(3) charging admission. Schools charge tuition all the time. But I don't understand what you mean by this:

"there is no option to not join and not pay these dues even though I believe that "membership" will not be beneficial to our family."

Please clarify -they are only charging members of the dance team, right? So if your daughter is no longer a member of the team you don't have to pay the $25?