It's Official: We're a Colorado Nonprofit (Now We Wait on the IRS)
By Ashley Schausten
I have news, and I've been sitting on it long enough that I'm about to burst.
Calico Hearts Foster & Rescue is now an official nonprofit in the state of Colorado.
That's the big one. The paperwork that has been hovering over my life for months — the forms, the filings, the fees that made me wince — is done on the state side. We exist, officially, on paper, as a Colorado nonprofit. Which means we're no longer just "Ashley with a spare room and a stubborn streak." We're a real organization.
Now, the part everyone asks about: the 501(c)(3). We've filed for our federal tax-exempt status, and we are now in the waiting room. And let me tell you — the IRS rushes through absolutely nothing. If you've ever waited on a government agency, you know the vibe. The file goes in, the clock starts, and nobody in that building is in a hurry. It'll be a while. Possibly a long while. I've made my peace with it. Mostly.
So what does that mean in the meantime? Honestly — more than you'd think.
Here's the thing I really want you to hear: we are geared up and ready to go in the fundraising department. The state recognition was the gate, and the gate is open. We can fundraise, we can organize, we can build. We are not sitting around waiting for a letter to arrive before we start saving cats — we've been saving cats the whole time, and now we finally have the structure to do it bigger.
Once the 501(c)(3) comes through, the fun stuff unlocks: tax-deductible donations with proper receipts, grant eligibility, better rates with vets and suppliers, and a whole lot of doors that open for the next kitten. But we are not waiting for permission to get moving.
So stay tuned, because it is coming up. We've got plans — real ones — and we're going full force with kitten missions: more intakes, more foster homes, more spay and neuter, more of those 4 a.m. bathroom-floor saves. The fundraising arm is about to wake up, and I cannot wait to show you what we've been building.
To everyone who has donated, fostered, volunteered, shared a post, or dropped a case of kitten milk at Schausten's while we were still figuring all of this out — thank you. You backed a daydream. Now you're backing an official nonprofit, and we are just getting started.
Colorado, we're official. IRS, we'll be waiting. Kittens, we're coming.
