Setting up your Faith based Farming Trust Organization

Below are the steps you will follow when you plan on creating your Trust via the IRS website. The link below will automatically take you to the IRS website to apply online. In order to create a new Trust, you will need to apply for a new EIN, both the Trust and EIN are done at the same time.

As mentioned above we chose to structure our Farm's Trust as Faith Based, we also chose to make the Trust irrevocable. 

Revocable vs Irrevocable, one is changeable and the other isn't.  We opted for an irrevocable trust, for the simple fact it would have more overall protections.

 A trustee is a person or entity appointed to manage assets held in a trust, acting as a legal owner responsible for following the trust document's instructions and acting in the beneficiaries' best interests. Trustees have duties including protecting and investing assets, keeping detailed financial records, managing distributions, and handling tax filings, all while remaining impartial and transparent with the beneficiaries.  A core duty is to act impartially and in the best financial interest of all beneficiaries, not for their own benefit.  

For a faith-based farm trust organization, the beneficiaries typically include the faith community, the farmers who work the land, and can even include Private Members.

This is the physical address of where the Faith Based Farm Trust Organization; will be farming.

We named our Trust: Hayes Valley Farms Family Trust of God. You can name your Trust anything you'd like, if it is Faith-Based, you may want to include some sort of faith-based term in the name.

You will receive a Confirmation of Trust (Letter), from the IRS, with your Trusts new EIN.  Be sure to print this and keep a copy. This is the only time you will get a copy of this letter.

By laws are basically the rules made by the association, organization, trust (farm), to control the actions of its members. Just like a corporation would have what's called Articles of Incorporation, by-laws are similar to that. 

The By-Laws are not what your Members Sign... This is an Organization Document.

Your by-laws should have sections called Articles. For instance Sections. each bullet point should be it's own Section. We will help elaborate each bullet point below.

• Name & Location
• Purpose
• Membership
• Dues/Fees
• Officer(s)/Director(s)/Board Member(s)/Trustee(s)
• Duties of Officer(s), Board Member(s), Trustee(s)
• Amendments
• Dissolution
• Indemnification

What are you naming your Trust? This is pretty straight forward. As is the location, would be where your farm is located.

What is the purpose of your organization/farm? 

Our purpose was to provide food and food products, grown, and/or raised by God's standards to our private members, who believed in unadulterated foods free of cancer causing chemicals. 

This section will list the rules for a person to become a private member; such as paying a fee, signing an agreement, etc.

Who needs to pay a fee? What is the fee?

Will you have any of the above? What are their titles?

Of the people listed above, you will explain their roles in tis section.

Basically, explaining if this document can be changed or not, by whom, and what happens of so?

Here you will explain what happens in the even of the farm/organization/trust closing or stopping producing (milk, beef, eggs, etc.).

This basically spells out any compensation for harm or loss to one of its officers, board members, or directors.