Good day! Please excuse cross-postings:

Municipal public libraries that are part of a town’s umbrella organization in some parts of the state are running into an interesting problem with acquiring their SAM.gov Unique Entity ID: The town itself is unable to register, because they aren’t showing up in the records at the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, and the reason for THAT is because these towns were incorporated BEFORE Maine was incorporated as a separate state from Massachusetts. Therefore, their records are at the Massachusetts SOS office.

After talking with Our Guy at GSA and with the Maine SOS office, here is the workaround:

Maine public libraries – even the municipal departments – may file as a separate entity with the Maine Secretary of State’s office as a nonprofit corporation. You do NOT need to have a 501c3 designation from the IRS to do this.

There is a filing fee to do this, $5 or $40 depending on which form you use. I would encourage you to look over both before deciding.

One is MNP6<https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/forms/nonprofit/mnp6.pdf>, and the other one is MNPCA-6<https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/forms/nonprofit/mnpca6.pdf>.

More information about this can be found here: https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/corp/nonprofit.html

Or here: https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/corp/determining.html

If you have further questions or just want to weep with someone who cares, then – in the immortal words of K-pop band EXO: “Call Me Baby<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWfsla_Uh80>.” (207) 747-8717

Warmly and sincerely,
Lisa


Lisa M. Shaw
(Pronouns: she/elle/ella/lei/hun/вона/ye/sí/그녀)
Maine State Library – Library Development
Rural & Small Libraries/Workforce Development Specialist
64 State House Station
Augusta ME 04333-0064
(207) 747-8717 (mobile)
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https://www.maine.gov/msl/libs/index.shtml
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisanealshaw/
https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/workforce

Current Reads: Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six [Lisa Unger]
Current Tunes: “Beautiful” [NCT 2021]; “Utopia” [ATEEZ]

“Start anew and don't be afraid
Everything will be okay, so don't worry
That moment in which you believe in yourself, that moment will be
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
You are that person that's one-of-a-kind on earth
I'm waiting for the moment in which you'll light up the world
You are enough just the way you are
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful you are”
[NCT 2021 – “Beautiful”]


Dator’s Law:
“Any useful statement about the future should at first seem ridiculous.”
[Jim Dator]