ASP .NET MVP Award Recipient!!! Woohoo!!!!

 

It feels kind of funny posting this now, you see I have been sick for the last few days and haven’t really been checking my email like I should.  Well, today I called Randy Walker and before saying anything else he says “Congrats”, it took me a second to figure out what he was talking about.  So, I went to read my email and there it was, an email from Microsoft telling me that I had been awarded the ASP .NET MVP.  I feel extremely honored to have received such an award. 

I want to thank everyone in Northwest Arkansas, the South Central District, and INETA for helping and supporting our community efforts in my area.  It has been a joy to build the community in Northwest Arkansas and watch it grow.  I can’t wait to see what new heights we can achieve now, and hope to see more Arkansas MVPs as the result.

Thanks to everyone for the congrats and you can rest assured I will use this to benefits the community and share as much as I can.

NWA .NET User Group: New Venue for Dennis J. Bottjer - Tips for Improving SharePoint Performance

The Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group has gone big time!!!! For several months we have been struggling to find a good venue. We moved to the Jones center, but the room we got still was not working out the way we wanted. The awesome staff at the The Jones Center did a great job getting us setup and now will be meeting in the "Chapel". The new venue can hold 337 members with theater seating and a big screen, we have also hired the on-site caterer to provide meals each meeting. So, if you have been tired of eating pizza and have been wanting better seating we now have it.

This months meeting Dennis J, Bottjer will be presenting Tips for Improving SharePoint Performance.

Description: A discussion for SharePoint Developers, Administrators and Solutions Architects focused on improving Internet and intranet performance. Tips will discuss a wide range of topics from adjusting out of the box settings to identifying memory leaks in custom code. This discussion will benefit anyone currently design a SharePoint implementation!

Presenter: Dennis J. Bottjer is a Software Solutions Architect, for Microsoft Gold Partner SpringPoint Technologies, in Tulsa, OK. He is a Microsoft ASP/ASP.NET MVP. He previously worked for one of the largest US based Financial Services Companies on the FORTUNE 100. He has an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Oklahoma. Dennis served for two years as the President of the Jacksonville Developers User Group.

SWAG:
Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 ($49.99)
Inside Office SharePoint Server ($44.99)
Professional Team Foundation Server ($39.99)
Hunting Security Bugs ($49.99)
JetBrains ReSharper ($199)
CodeSmith Studio ($99)
Infragistics NetAdvantage Suite ($999)
Windows Vista Ultimate ($319.99)

When:
September 2, 2008
5:30 PM - 5:45 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
5:45 PM - 6:00 PM - Lighting Presentation
6:00 PM - 6:10 PM - Intermission - Presenter switch over
6:10 PM - 7:30 PM - Main Presentation
7:30 PM - 8:00 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where:
The Jones Center
922 East Emma Avenue
Springdale, AR 72764
Room 100

NetMeeting URL: http://snipr.com/3a50w

Everyone mark you calendars and get ready to see the Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group to the next level!

Free Foundations of Programming E-book by Karl Sequin

How important are foundations?  Well, have you ever spent any time around a construction site?  You should sometime,  it is amazing the amount of work that goes into just getting the foundation setup.  They move or level ground, bring in support, cut rebar, dig out where the supports needs to be.  A lot of planning and thought, not to mention sweat goes into preparing the foundation to support the building or home that it will eventually hold.

Every developer should strive to have a foundation that is as thought out, sturdy, and planned as that and this E-book from Karl will developers build that foundation.

Karl Sequin’s blog series on the Foundations of Programming has been one of my favorites.  The insight and practicality of what he teaches has touched me and my coding habits in an exponential way.  I downloaded and printed the a PDF that Tim Barcz created that included everything up to Part 7 – Active Record.  I have carried that copy with me everywhere.  Oh yes, I have printed this one and replaced my worn short version and am prepared for to read it through again. 

Download it from http://codebetter.com/blogs/karlseguin/archive/2008/06/24/foundations-of-programming-ebook.aspx.

Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group Achieves 501(c)(3) Status

Zach Young, the Vice President of the Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group,  just informed me that we have achieved 501(c)(3) status for Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group, Inc.  This is an awesome achievement for the group since we are not exempt from taxes and can be viewed as a charitable organization by donors.

John Oswalt, Treasurer, has some extended information about what this status means on his blog post here.

Here is some additional info you might need if your user group is thinking about starting the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) organization.

What does being a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization mean? The term "tax-exempt," when used in reference to nonprofit organizations, generally refers to the net profits (proceeds over and above expenses) of an organization being exempt from federal and/or state income tax. While a nonprofit organization can be established by incorporating, the entity is not automatically tax-exempt upon creation with the state. Tax-exemption can usually be achieved only through applying for and receiving Internal Revenue Service (IRS) approval.

Is there more than one category of tax-exempt organization?

Yes. The one most familiar (and addressed in subsequent questions below) is the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3) public charity or private foundation, which is established for purposes that are religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering of national or international amateur sports, or prevention of cruelty to animals and children. There are also IRC Section 501(c)(4) through 501(c)(27) organizations that are considered tax-exempt, but not charitable. Examples include trade associations, social clubs and certain advocacy organizations involved in substantial political lobbying activity.

What benefits does being a 501(c)(3) offer a nonprofit and its contributors? One of the primary benefits of being considered tax-exempt under IRC Section 501(c)(3) is the ability to accept contributions and donations that are tax-deductible to the donor. Additional benefits include, but are not limited to:

  • Exemption from federal and/or state corporate income taxes
  • Possible exemption from state sales and property taxes (varies by state)
  • Ability to apply for grants and other public or private allocations available only to IRS-recognized, 501(c)(3) organizations
  • Potentially higher thresholds before incurring federal and/or state unemployment tax liabilities
  • The public legitimacy of IRS recognition
  • Discounts on US Postal bulk-mail rates and other services

What form is required for 501(c)(3) status?

To apply for IRS 501(c)(3) recognition, IRS Form 1023 must be completed and filed.

What are the fees to file Form 1023? The IRS has a two-tiered filing fee structure. Most organizations pay the standard $750 filing fee when sending their application to the IRS. Organizations that expect to have (or have had) no more than $40,000 in gross revenue for the first four years combined can pay a reduced filing fee of $300.

Is there a state application as well as federal? In most states, no. While a handful of states have a simple, one- or two-page form that must be prepared, California is the only state that requires a separate application process rivaling the one required by the IRS. In California, federal tax-exemption does not eliminate state income tax liability until approval is received from the California Franchise Tax Board. We can assist with the California filing.

How long does it take for the IRS to approve 501c3 status? Typically, IRS 501(c)(3) approval takes between 2 and 12 months, inclusive of likely written follow-up questions. Sometimes it takes a little less; sometimes a little more. Expedited review can be requested if a new organization is being formed to provide immediate disaster relief or if a promised grant is both 1) substantial relative to the organization’s budget and 2) the grant has a specifically-defined expiration date. There is no guarantee the IRS will grant expedited review requests.

What happens if the application is rejected? A negative 501(c)(3) determination by the IRS can be appealed. Alternatively, the organization may choose to apply again from scratch. In either case, it is usually an uphill battle to acquire 501(c)(3) recognition once an organization’s initial application has been rejected.

Can anyone complete Form 1023? Technically, anyone can complete Form 1023. From a practical standpoint, it is usually advisable to enlist the help of a professional who specializes in the process, such as The Foundation Group. While the IRS rejects slightly less than 10% of applications filed, more than one-third are abandoned by the filer...usually out of frustration or inability to answer the IRS follow-up questions. Out of approximately 80,000 applications filed annually, nearly half never make it through the process.

Summary There are several resources online that provide additional information.  I highly recommend that you work with an accountant locally, build a relationship with them.  It is important to have someone that really understands the financial and legal aspects of your organization.  A lot of the information here and more can be found on the Foundation Group’s 501(c)(3) site, the benefits are listed here.

NWA Heroes Community Launch Event Update

Agenda
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM - Sign in;
Free pizza; Networking
6:30 PM - 6:45 PM - Intro and general group info
6:45 PM - 7:45 PM - Presentation
7:45 PM - 8:00 PM - Drawings for prizes

Location
Meeting location is the WACC Corporate Learning (formally REAL Plant IT) in Fayetteville.

4004 N. College Ave. Ste L
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Phone: (479) 718-7572
Fax: (877) 442-7573

Giveaways
Software

10 - Visual Studio 2008
10 - SQL Server 2008
10 - Windows Server 2008
2 - Windows Vista 2008

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/default.mspx
Registration Link: http://nwadnug.org/Events/tabid/54/ctl/Details/Mid/370/ItemID/21/Default.aspx?selecteddate=6/3/2008

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