TY 2020 ReasonableCauseExplanation
Name:
COLLABORATIVE CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC
Explanation:
I am the new Director of the Collaborative Center for Justice and the new President of CCFJ, Inc. I began work at the Collaborative Center for Justice full-time on May 1st, 2022, the fourth quarter of FY23. The Treasurer of CCFJ, Inc. is also new and took over that role in the fourth quarter of FY23. We received IRS Notice CP259A on August 28th , 2023. This was my first knowledge, and CCFJ, Inc's new Treasurer's first knowledge--that CCFJ was not up-to-date in its tax filings. Since then, we have filed tax returns for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2020 and June 30, 2021, which I believe are the two filings that were missing. Apparently, the previous Director believed that when he filed the tax return for the year ending June 30, 2022 on November 15, 2022, he had met all the requirements for filing taxes. I am requesting that no late filing penalties be imposed for the following reasons: - the Collaborative Center for Justice is a very small, mission-driven non-profit organization, largely run by volunteers, and does not engage in activities which would require the payment of federal income taxes. - The years from 2019 to the present have been years of enormous transition for the organization. These organizational upheavals resulted in the unintentional late filing of these two tax returns. Collaborative Center for Justice (CCFJ)has a somewhat complicated volunteer leadership structure. The organization was formed and is largely supported by 5 congregations of women religious. One representative from each of the supporting congregations are the Corporate Members; the officers of the Corporation are selected by the Members and are generally the staff of the organization. The activities and oversight of the finances of the organization are delegated to a volunteer Board of Trustees. Important points of transition and institutional disruption that contributed to the failure to file tax returns include: - In mid-2019, S. Mary Alice Synkewecz retired after 20 years as Director of CCFJ and President of the Corporation. She was replaced by the first lay leader of the organization, a young man who had little experience working in non-profit organizations and no experience leading a non-profit organization. - In January, 2020, the Chair of the Board of Trustees resigned and was replaced by a new Chair who led the Board of Trustees for only about one year. At that same time, six new members joined the 13 volunteer members of the Board of Trustees. - In March of 2020, the COVID pandemic closed the CCFJ office and required that the staff, Board and Corporate Members learn how to work remotely and without in-person meetings - In June of 2021, the Administrative Assistant who served as Secretary of the Corporation retired after 6 years with CCFJ and, in the fall of 2022was replaced by an Administrative Assistant who stayed less than a year. - In 2022, the Associate Director of CCFJ who served as Vice-President of the Corporation left the organization and has not been replaced. - In March of 2023, the Director of CCFJ took another job and left the organization. In these transition years, it was not clear to the Board of Trustees that they were responsible for ensuring that tax returns were filed. They did review monthly income and expense statements and an annual report on finances was prepared for the Corporate Members. These documents have been used to prepare the recently filed tax returns. At least two members of the Board of Trustees did ask the previous Director if tax returns had been filed and were told that they had but that was the extent of the oversight of this issue. As mentioned above, I began full-time work as the Director in the fourth quarter of FY23. Since that time, I, along with the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees, have worked to modernize the organization's bookkeeping for FY24. In April, I was appointed President of the Corporation and the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees was appointed Vice-President/Treasurer of the Corporation. Going forward, we will be in a position to file timely tax returns and will educate the Board of Trustees on their responsibilities to ensure that this happens. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Reverend Teran E.Loeppke Director Collaborative Center for Justice 40 Clifford Street Hartford, CT 06114 Office Phone (860) 692-3066 Email: teran@ccfj.org