About Us

Dear SEERD donors and followers,,

While we prepare for the next stage in our fight to preserve our way of life in the East End, we thought it might be a good time to provide some information that every organization, in the interest of transparency, should make available to interested parties.

First, a current breakdown of the finances of SEERD:

Since its inception, SEERD has received $16,321.00 in donations on its website, and $1,010 in checks sent through U.S. mail, for a total of $17,331.00, from 128 donors.

Incorporation costs were $2,531.00. Retainer fees for our attorney, $1,500.00, and for our engineer $1,000.00. IRS tax exempt filing fee was $50.00.

Other costs, such as initial legal advisory fees, P. O.Box rental, website purchase, and website administration fees that have been paid for by your SEERD officers, but not yet reimbursed from SEERD funds, total less than $1,000.00.

Currently our bank account shows a balance of $12,216.11. We are awaiting a bill of approx. $1,000.00 from a court stenographer, and the estimated legal fees for an appeal are $10,000.00 - $15,000.00.

Although we have done remarkably well for a newly-formed grassroots organization, we do not have many donors, and the average donation is $135.00. We are going to have to “up our game” if we want to stay in this fight.

Another topic - one that seems to interest our opponents more than most of our donors - is our tax-exempt status, and since our opponents are also avid readers of our website, I’ll post this information freely here.

We are incorporated as a 501(c)4, and accredited by the IRS as a tax exempt organization. This means that SEERD does not have to pay taxes on the donations that it receives. Unfortunately, it does NOT mean that your contributions are tax deductible. Below is a brief explanation of the difference between a 501(c)3, an organization for which donations are tax deductible, and a 501(c)4, an organization for which donations are not:

AS per IRS, 501(c)3 is a non-profit organization for religious, charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. Donations to 501(c)3 are tax-deductible. Whereas, a 501(c)4 is a social welfare group, and donations to 501(c)4 are not tax-deductible.

For clarification purposes, I would also like to offer the following information:

100% tax deductible does not mean that for every dollar one donates, one can deduct one dollar from what one owes the IRS in any given year. It depends on the tax bracket of an individual. If one is taxed at a 20-30% rate by the federal government, one can deduct 20-30 cents on every dollar, and only in the event that one itemizes on one’s tax return, something that most people no longer do.

I hope to have brought our followers and donors up to date on our current financial state of affairs, and also cleared up any questions about our tax-exempt status.

Sincerely,

Roger Zacks

President, SEERD, inc.