Online Fundraiser to help keep our Meetup group afloat

Stupendous Swimmers- Simply put, we are holding an online fundraiser to help keep our Meetup group afloat (pun intended). We have had some challenges over the past year – Which is why last year’s season was delayed and abbreviated. You may be aware of the details, or if not, the whole big, long story is below,

but first,
You're here on Meetup, so I hope you find it valuable. But now we need some help so we are asking if you would be willing to contribute at least $10? If you have attended any of our events, I hope you feel it was worth at least that and much more, and worth it help keep Meetup as a way of promoting our events. As you probably know we are all volunteers here and the Rocks, Rips & Reefs program has always, since it began in 1977, been free to the public and funded completely by donations.

Here is our situation. Our first challenge came last year when, while switching our 501-c4 nonprofit status to a 501-c3 organization, we hit some glitches with the state and our bank account was frozen. In a nutshell, we learned that the Council of Divers, our sponsor had a different Tax ID number long ago before any of us currently here, which was still on record despite being a duplicate the state should not have even allowed to exist. The state issued penalties and froze our bank account despite us proving we have been current with all fees every year, just not for the duplicate Tax ID number. To prove this, we have even re-filed and paid late fees to re-file for years that had been in question. In the midst of this, and causing further confusion, it seems a clerical error by the state attached our Tax ID number to a business in Los Angeles which has nothing to do with our organization. Still despite having sent documentation that we have done everything required, the state has been very difficult to work with and our funds remain frozen.

We were fortunately able to hold an abbreviated season last year due to a generous gift by the La Jolla Kiwanis, but we now need to reserve what funds we do have to be able to hold our full season this year in 2026.

On top of this, Our Meetup group was up for renewal during this time. And while we were collecting money to pay for this (our volunteer staff was gathering our own personal money), and although it had not expired, another group was able to absorb our members. This is why if you were here before, you may have noticed our membership is down about 700 members. If you were here before, we are glad you found your way back and if you are new - we are very glad you have joined us.

So this is why we are asking if you, our Meetup members would be willing to contribute to keeping this group going as it is coming up for renewal again, and we still have not gotten our funds back from the state.

Note, 'Pledge' will take a small cut. If you would rather contribute directly through PayPal, please message me and I can send you a direct link. Also you don't have to add any additional amount to Pleadge - you can zero that amount out. And please keep in mind, until we get our C3 status resolved, donations are unfortunately not currently tax-deductible.

Thank you so very much.
-Marc Henning