2025-07-28T23:19:55-07:00 2023-09-30 990EZ 2022-10-01 030371819 PLANTING HOPE INC PLAN 8027931821 52 Ridge ST Unit 1 Montpelier VT 05602 Beth Merrill Executive Director 8027931821 2025-07-28 1 2022 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z X X X X 28542 X 9580 13202 0 15 500 0 500 0 4945 584 4361 300 225 75 0 27733 4375 0 416 13370 2250 1822 16677 38910 -11177 18601 0 7424 18601 7424 0 0 0 0 18601 7424 0 0 18601 7424 Planting Hope creates educational opportunities, promotes grassroots development and fosters cultural exchanges in Nicaragua and the United States. Hosted our 5th Spanish Language and Nicaraguan Culture day camp at AllTogetherNow! in East Montpelier, VT. Students participated in cultural presentations on dance, music and food with Planting Hope Board Member Beth Merrill coordinated with guest cultural exchange teachers from Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. 2558 2558 Hosted the Annual Solidarity Craft Fair at the Unitarian and Bethany Churches in Montpelier, VT, in conjunction with a Middle School Maker Fair. Proceeds benefited the Middle School year-end, cultural exchange trip. 4750 4750 Hosted a dance practice and performance for the State of Vermont's Latin American Heritage Celebration in October, 2022. 300 300 Nicaraguan staff provided online Spanish courses to private school students during the school year. 10645 10645 18253 Emily Sloan Co-Chair, Board of Directors 0 0 0 0 Paul Angell Treasurer, Board of Directors 0 0 0 0 Donald DeVoil Secretary 0 0 0 0 Beth Merrill Executive Director, Board Member 0.25 0 0 0 Cynthia Gauthier Board Member 0 0 0 0 Jed Lowy Board Member 0 0 0 0 Heidemarie Holmes-Heiss Board Member 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 VT Beth A Merrill 52 Ridge St Unit 1 Montpelier VT 05602 8027931821 1 NU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NONE NONE 1 X 52002 33575 47719 47830 5880 187006 52002 33575 47719 47830 5880 187006 187006 97 73 29 24 15 238 97 73 29 24 15 238 20000 8391 4795 10000 3700 46886 72099 42039 52543 57854 9595 234130 0.79873 0.72980 0.00102 0.00088 X Schedule A, Part III, Line 12 Rodgers Rotary Club and Affiliates donation for water tank project and computer project continuation and oversight. One-time funding. La Chispa Library and Assets were confiscated by the Nicaraguan government, due to notice that the organization's non-profit status had been cancelled. (along with 100s of other non-profit organizations in the country). Despite our many attempts to comply with their reporting requirements, they cited non-compliance and non-filing as their rationale. The library was taken over by the government and is now used as a government building. 2022-05-22 65000 Used the amount on our last 990 statement. No funds were given to the organization for the assets, since it was confiscated by the government. 000000000 Ministry of Education Barrio La Chispa Matagalpa Nicaragua NU 00000000 0 0 0 0 Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 10 Main Street Middle School Fundraising beneficiary from annual fair proceeds Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 16 Description;Amount^Purchase of water tank for rural project;2500|Rural Computer Project Oversight;1200|Discretionary funds and severance for dismissed employees in Nica;11677|Maintenance and other organizational fees in the US;1300^Total;16677^ In 2022, our main office in Nicaragua was confiscated by the government there, despite our many attempts to comply with their filing requirements. This happened to hundreds of other non-profit organization's there as well. Since then, we have continued on a much smaller scale, to carry out our cultural exchange mission in Vermont, by promoting Nicaraguan culture in schools and camps. I continue to serve as executive director, but only as a volunteer, as we no longer receive large grants or do any fund-raising to support the projects, since the Nicaraguan government has forbidden our work there. In 2023, we also lost our office in Vermont and with that, we lost our (very old) computer's ability to connect to the internet via cables, so we have not been able to update our accounting files. Since then, I have needed to update by entering data on spreadsheets by hand. In addition, during the past year and a half, I have been consumed with family responsibilities, as my father suffered a stroke in late 2023, I continue to coordinate 24 hour care for him. Simultaneously, it became evident that my mother also needed supervision and memory care, so at the time of this filing due date, I was working to secure a safe place for her to live. In addition, I took over the responsibility of being the guardian for my sister who has cerebral palsy and had lived with my parents since birth, but was no longer able to after their health issues. I had filed for an extension and in my mind I had submitted this last August. You may imagine my surprise when I opened our software to complete this year's 990 and saw that last year's was still in edit mode. I am sorry for this delay and ask that you waive the fee that has the potential to be assessed. My life is a bit more under control this year and I am going to reach out to an accountant to help us with subsequent 990s. We are not actively fund-raising, however, we are carrying out a few of the projects in the US which we previously carried out. I anticipate that in the next few years we will move to the Postcard filing, as our revenue is going to be around 10,000 or less. I am truly sorry that this filing slipped off my plate. I can see now how entrenched I was in my extended family's care, in addition to taking care of my own family and starting a new full time job teaching. I would appreciate your consideration in taking these circumstances into account and waiving the late fee. I am prepared to file the subsequent years in a timely manner.