It’s Official — Friends of Lulu No Longer a Non-Profit Organization

The troubled comic organization Friends of Lulu, founded in 1994 to promote women in comics as both readers and professionals, is no longer a non-profit organization. The IRS has automatically revoked the group’s federal tax-exempt status as of May 15, 2010, “for failing to file an annual information return or notice with the IRS for three consecutive years.” (FoL is on the New York state list, since that was the last filed contact address.)

This became known as a likely possibility last August, when I found the group on the IRS risk list. At that time, a group of volunteers stepped forward to try and get the group back on its feet (after a public call for help). However, the only news since from the group has been a public resignation (via blog post) from the then-President and an award announcement at the end of October 2010. No details have been available or announced since then. Is it time to put up the grave marker and move on?

Friends of Lulu is far from the only group this affected, by the way. The New York Times reports that 275,000 groups, most defunct, had their status revoked. “The I.R.S. has created a process for nonprofit groups with annual revenue less than $25,000 that find themselves on the list and wish to reapply for tax exemption, including a reduced fee of $100.”