501c3, corporate sponsorship and more

[Fat Guy]

The eGullet Society is pleased and proud to announce that our petition for 501c3 tax exempt status has been granted by the US Internal Revenue Service. This means that donations to the eGullet Society are tax deductible in the United States. In addition, under Article XXI of the United States-Canada Income Tax Convention, US 501c3 exemptions are recognized in Canada. Our tax exemption, as approved by the IRS, is retroactive to October 4, 2004, so even if you made a donation several months ago you can still claim a deduction for it. (Soon, we will do an e-mailing of tax receipts to all those who made gifts prior to the 501c3 approval; if your e-mail address has changed since the time when you made a donation, please do update your member profile to reflect the new address).

At the same time, we are able to announce our first corporate sponsorship. The Travel Channel and the new Anthony Bourdain television show, No Reservations, have given a generous gift to the eGullet Society. For the next five weeks, you will see a banner on our web pages acknowledging this sponsorship. We hope to have many more and different corporate sponsors in the future. Between their contributions and the contributions of members, plus funding from grants (which, now that we have 501c3 status, we can finally start applying for) and other sources, we hope to be able to continue the growth of the eGullet Society at an even greater rate than before.

On the content front, for the next few weeks we will have Anthony Bourdain with us more so than usual. Today in the Daily Gullet you will find an exclusive interview with Mr. Bourdain, conducted by Rachel Perlow. Expect periodic Bourdain appearances in the follow-up discussion.

If you haven’t already, we hope you’ll all take the opportunity, on the occasion of these bits of good news, to look around the eGullet Society web space with fresh eyes and consider making a monetary gift by upgrading your membership (to do so, you must already be a member and logged in) to society donor status. Thank you.

With relish,