Nonprofit Registration Rejection

[rfischman]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

Body

We are trying to register our non-profit with GitHub. The getting start page says:

• All necessary documentation: CHECK! We've provided out 501(c)(3) determination letter from the IRS
• Reviewed eligibility: CHECK! We're eligible as a 501(c)(3) not affiliated with any religious organization
• Verified the GitHub organization: CHECK! Our domain shows as verified
• Clearly documented your affiliation with the organization: CHECK! Provided my role withint he organization and links to our website that show as much

However, we keep getting told we aren't approved for the non-profit program.. And of course there's no easy way to find out why.

Any thoughts on what we're missing?

[techlinn]

I went through GitHub's nonprofit requirements and I'm pretty sure I see what's getting you. It's the thing that trips up orgs that otherwise look totally qualified.

You handled the religious part, but GitHub's eligibility actually has four other criteria. Their docs say nonprofit accounts are for orgs that are:

non-governmental, non-academic, non-commercial, and non-political in nature

Your 501(c)(3) letter proves your tax status, but it doesn't automatically satisfy those four. So if you didn't address them outright, or if something on your site reads as advocacy or political, I'd bet that's the quiet reason it's bouncing. Worth rereading your affiliation statement and your homepage with that lens!

A couple of smaller things worth knowing:

• Domain verification is a separate org security feature and doesn't factor into the nonprofit review, so don't count it as one of your checkmarks even though it feels like one.
• Approval is manual. Their support team reviews it by hand and it can take up to a week, with the result email going to the org owner/admin account. If the person who applied isn't the owner, check whether the response just landed in someone else's inbox.

When you reapply, I'd open a ticket with GitHub Support and ask directly which criterion you missed. The application flow won't tell you anything on its own, and while support won't always give a detailed reason, it's your best shot at turning this from guessing into a specific fix!

[rfischman]

Pretty sure we checked those boxes too. We are not a government agency, not an academic institution, not a polictical group and not commercial - we don't sell goods or services for a profit.

I did open a support ticket and am waiting to hear back from them on what we "failed" on so we can address it properly next time. I'd be willing to bet its the non-commercial..

We're a non-profit, community ambulance service and without understanding what that means they probably see that as a commercial venture.

[KuroiAkuma19]

The ambulance service is probably what's tripping you. To an outside reviewer, "ambulance service" sounds like a commercial medical transport company, even if you're clearly a 501(c)(3) volunteer operation.

GitHub's non-commercial requirement is evaluated separately from your tax status so even though your IRS letter is solid, a reviewer might still look at your website or application and think "this looks like a business."

A few things worth trying:

• Be explicit about your funding model. Don't assume the reviewer will figure it out spell out that you run on donations/grants/municipal support and that any billing that exists goes back into operations, not to any owners or shareholders.
• Look at your website the way a stranger would. If there's anything on there about rates, service fees, or billing, that might be what's raising flags. A clear "we are a community-funded, volunteer nonprofit" statement somewhere prominent would help.
• When you hear back from support, ask them directly whether the ambulance service classification is the issue and what you'd need to show to address it. Vague rejections are frustrating but support can usually be more specific if you ask the right question.

Also double check that the rejection email isn't just sitting in the org owner's inbox if that's a different person than who applied.

Hope it gets sorted.