By Angélica López
Silver Spring, MD — The National Association of the Deaf (NAD)’s Board President, Melissa Draganac-Hawk, reported the organization’s recent activities on Thursday in their monthly video release, titled “President Update – April/May 2019,” yesterday on May 30. Draganac-Hawk provided a link with the Maryland Business Express’ official website that shows NAD’s corporate registration status with the State of Maryland in good standing.
In a previous The Deaf Report article, the anonymous author shared two key discoveries:
- NAD’s corporate status was revoked according to the District of Columbia’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs; and
- NAD’s corporate status was listed as “forfeited” by the Maryland Department of Assessments & Taxation through the Maryland Business Express website, with the indication that the reason for forfeiture was the failure to file property tax returns for 2018.
Maryland’s tax regulations state that a forfeited company is not allowed to conduct any business or collect donations in the state.
Draganac-Hawk’s announcement was an update following Howard Rosenblum’s #AHA (Ask Howard Anything) video from last month on April 24 in response to the community’s concerns about NAD’s status as a functioning organization, as the status confirmation was not available at the time of Rosenblum’s video.
Rosenblum made two main claims in his video, which was posted the day after The Deaf Report published their previous article:
- local nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status, including NAD, are required to submit and renew paperwork with both the State of Maryland and the Internal Revenue Services; and
- glitches are common and a glitch may have occurred with the paperwork or the filing process, which does not mean that NAD has to cease their operations and shut down.
An unnamed official from the Maryland Department of Assessment and Taxation affirmed that NAD’s forfeited status, posted as of November 25th, 2018, was not a glitch nor a clerical error by the State of Maryland. The official explained that the status forfeiture occurred because NAD submitted their 2018 annual report on November 26, seven months past the due date (April 15, 2018) and the day after the status forfeiture was posted. Additionally, the official stated that NAD has yet to submit their 2019 annual report this year, which was also due last month on April 15.
In response to an inquiry of how NAD could reverse their forfeited status, The Deaf Report was transferred to the State of Maryland’s Legal Department. A representative stated that there were three things NAD could do to reinstate their corporate status:
- file the 2019 annual report [which has not been filed yet];
- submit a complete Corporation Qualification Form attachment; and
- include a certification of good standing from their home state (since they are a foreign entity) from within the last 60 days.
The State of Maryland recognized the District of Columbia as NAD’s “home state,” and NAD’s corporate status with the District of Columbia was revoked (prior to the new filing).
NAD chose to bypass the requirements of working with the District of Columbia to obtain a certification of good standing and submitting the 2019 annual report to the State of Maryland by filing as a new incorporated organization with the addition of “Inc.” to their name (as shown below on a screenshot from the State of Maryland’s website).
The State of Maryland informed The Deaf Report that it is not uncommon for organizations to file for a new, separated incorporated status instead of working to reinstate their existing revoked or forfeited status. With this being done only a few days after The Deaf Report shared that NAD’s corporate status was forfeited, people have wondered if the article brought NAD to their feet and pushed them to remedy their status.
NAD may be in good standing as “NAD, Inc.,” but that does not change the fact that they have been late in filing their annual report twice. What’s going on with NAD’s operations?
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on The Deaf Report under the listed author. This article has been placed on Deaf Vee Journal for archiving purposes.
