Those vaguely familiar looking characters at the right aren’t from a lost Scooby-Doo episode. They’ve been freshly created by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as part of the micro site www.stayexempt.irs.gov, and they’re here to help you meddling kids keep your charitable status.

The IRS has gotten tougher in recent years on both the organizational and operation tests that your nonprofit oranization has to pass. Things to avoid: benefiting a private party, excessive lobbying, affecting political campaigns, engaging in unrelated business, and filing incorrectly. 

Once you know the rules, it’s really not that difficult to operate within the guidelines. And to help you learn them, these characters participate in online workshops with you.

The IRS really can’t try much harder to make all of this accessible, so instead of getting that teeth chattering fear of the mysterious presence lurking nearby, become your organization’s expert on the right way to do things.