This is a hands-on tour. You will click through the live demo yourself, step by step, while this guide tells you exactly what to do. By the end you will have worked through the Form 1024 parts and seen how the app assembles your prepared application.
Put the demo on one side and this walkthrough on the other so you can read a step and do it without flipping back and forth. Two monitors works best. On one screen, snap each window to half: click the demo window and press ⊞ + ←, then this window and press ⊞ + → (on Windows). The demo opens in a new tab when you click Launch the demo above.
The demo is a fully working copy of Form 1024 Prep loaded with sample answers. There is no sign-in and nothing you do is saved to a real account, so click freely and experiment. You will see a red DEMO MODE bar across the top with a Reset button if you ever want a clean slate.
Form 1024 is the IRS application many non-501(c)(3) nonprofits use to have their tax-exempt status formally recognized: social welfare organizations under 501(c)(4), labor and agricultural groups under (c)(5), business leagues and chambers of commerce under (c)(6), and social and recreational clubs under (c)(7), among others. Unlike a 501(c)(3), gifts to most of these are not tax-deductible for the donor. This app guides you through the application part by part in plain language, with a narrative builder and a filing checklist. It prepares your application; it does not file it for you.
Your task: get your exemption recognized. You have formed a non-501(c)(3) nonprofit, a social welfare group, a business league, or a club, and now want the IRS to formally recognize your tax-exempt status. We will work through the application parts and assemble what you need to submit.
When the demo opens you land on the Overview, which lays out the parts of Form 1024 and your progress through them. The left sidebar groups the work into Application (Parts I through VI and your schedule), Finish (filing checklist, document branding, review and export), and Help.
Do this: Read the Overview to see the whole application broken into parts, then look down the sidebar so you know where each part lives.
Why it matters: seeing a long IRS form split into clear parts makes a daunting application feel manageable.
Open Part I · Identification and Part II · Structure. These cover who you are, your contact and EIN details, and how you are organized (corporation, association, or trust) along with your organizing documents. The app explains what the IRS is asking and why, so you are not guessing at unfamiliar terms.
Do this: Open Part I and review the sample answers, then open Part II and note how your structure and organizing documents are captured.
Why it matters: the basics establish that you are a properly formed organization eligible to apply, the gate everything else depends on.
Open Part III · Required provisions. Different exemption types need specific language in their organizing documents. The app shows the provisions that apply to your category, whether you are a social welfare group, a business league, a club, or another type, so your governing documents say what the IRS expects.
Do this: Open Part III and read the required-provision guidance. Notice how it changes with the type of organization you are applying as.
Why it matters: missing or wrong organizing-document language is a common reason applications stall. Getting it right up front avoids a back-and-forth with the IRS.
Open Part IV · Activities narrative. This is the heart of Form 1024: a clear description of what your organization actually does, tied to the exempt purpose you are claiming. The app includes a narrative builder to help you write it the way reviewers want to read it.
Do this: Open Part IV and read the sample narrative, then try the narrative builder to shape your own description.
Why it matters: a clear, well-framed activities description is the single biggest factor in a smooth approval.
Open Part V · People & money and Part VI · Financials. These capture your officers, directors, and any compensation, plus your financial data and projections. The app keeps your progress as you go.
Do this: Open Part V to see how leadership and compensation are recorded, then open Part VI to see how budgets and financials are captured.
Why it matters: reviewers look closely at who runs the organization and how money flows, so complete, consistent figures here matter.
Open Your schedule: Form 1024 has a schedule specific to each exemption type, and the app shows the one that fits you. For a social welfare organization, for example, it also flags the separate Form 8976 notice. Then work through the Filing checklist and use Review & export to pull every answer into a prepared package.
Do this: Open Your schedule, then the Filing checklist, then Review & export to see your assembled application in one place. Remember the app prepares your application; you submit it to the IRS yourself.
Why it matters: having the right schedule and every answer organized in one package makes the actual submission far faster and less error-prone.
Every Build Your Club app shares one secure, organization-wide Document Library. The Document Library link sits in the sidebar just under Dashboard and opens the Library in a new tab, where your whole team can find any file you have saved.
Do this: Find Document Library in the sidebar. Whenever you generate your draft Form 1024 narrative and attachments in this app, use the Save to Library button on the export toolbar. The Library keeps every version, lets you archive or restore files, and stays private to your organization.
Why it matters: one shared home for your documents means nothing lives only on one person's computer, and the current version is always easy to find.
A document in your Library can be routed for review and, when it needs to be signed, for a legally sound electronic signature, all without leaving Build Your Club. Reviewers approve or request changes from a secure link, and signers sign by typing or drawing their name behind a consent checkbox. The finished, signed PDF files itself back into the Library automatically.
Do this: From the Document Library, open a document and choose Submit for approval, or send it for signature, then enter the person's email. They get a one-time link with no account required, and you watch the status flip to Approved or Signed.
Why it matters: approvals and signatures are how policies, agreements, and board documents become official, and keeping that whole trail in one place protects the organization.
If you ever get stuck, the Contact support link in the sidebar opens a help request tied to your account. You describe what you need, send it, and our team replies by email, and you can follow the whole conversation from the support page.
Do this: Click Contact support in the sidebar to see the request form. Signed in to your real account, you can send a message and then track replies and status right there.
Why it matters: real help from real people is part of the product, so you are never left staring at a blank screen on your own.
You just worked through the Form 1024 parts and saw how the app assembles your prepared application, using the same steps you would follow for your real exemption application. Explore any other part of the demo, or reset it and try it your own way.