Non-profit vs not-for-profit organizations
Answers
Interesting question. Never really thought about this. Fortunately others apparently have. Here is an informative article I located via a search covering the discussion. https://www.proformative.com/resources/not-profit-vs-non-profit
Vernon, wonderful find! It figures the IRS would have a definition for them. I have been using them interchangingly, and even though the IRS distinguishes the difference, I am going to continue to use them the same way. That's me, the rebel.
Non-profits are generally thought of when talking about charitable organizations, although that is not always the case. There are restricted by how much money they can retain in order to be considered a non-profit and have the
Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law.
Maybe an example helps: AAA is a not-for-profit (actually it is a confederation of regional entities but that's not important here). There are no shareholders but it isn't a charity. AAA is basically a business that is designed to benefit and be governed by its customers instead of any owners. And in fact they refund money to their insurance customers at the end of the year based on their profits - that essentially replaces a dividend to shareholders.
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