509(A)(3)
We support another charity
A supporting organization exists to benefit a different public charity rather than to run programmes of its own. Ours benefits the Blytheville Humane Society and nothing else.
About us
One store, one purpose.
Orphan Annies Inc exists to raise money for the animals of Mississippi County, Arkansas. It does that one way: by running a thrift store and giving away what the store makes.
There is no head office, no development department and nobody on payroll. The organisation is a room full of donated things, a rotating crew of volunteers pricing them, and a shelter down the road that needs the register to ring.
How it started
It began as a way to pay the shelter’s bills.
Orphan Annie’s was started by volunteers with a straightforward idea: a town this size will not fund an animal shelter out of donations alone, but it will happily buy each other’s furniture if somebody organises it.
For years that meant several small shops scattered around Blytheville, each run out of whatever space was going. In June 2023 they were consolidated into one building — the former MCEC building at 510 N Broadway — which finally gave the operation room to take furniture and lay out a real sales floor instead of stacking donations in a back room.
The organisation was incorporated and recognised by the IRS as a charity in its own right in 2015. The arrangement has not changed since the beginning: volunteers run a shop, and the money goes to the animals.
Who we are
A small charity, on the public record.
Orphan Annie’s exists for one purpose: to raise money for the Blytheville Humane Society by running a thrift store. Here is what the IRS has on us, which is most of what there is to know.
Our charitable purpose
Orphan Annies Inc is a nonprofit corporation in Blytheville, Arkansas. The Internal Revenue Service recognizes it as a 501(c)(3) public charity, exempt from federal income tax effective November 2, 2015 — EIN 81-0881057, determination letter issued 3 June 2016. It operates one program: Orphan Annie’s Thrift Store at 510 N Broadway.
The IRS classifies it more precisely as a Type II supporting organization under IRC Section 509(a)(3) — a charity supervised or controlled in connection with the public charity it exists to support. That charity is the Blytheville Humane Society, and supporting it is the whole of what Orphan Annie’s does.
There is no paid staff and no paid fundraiser. After the cost of keeping the building open, the store’s proceeds go to the care, sheltering and rehoming of animals in Mississippi County, Arkansas.
- Legal name
- Orphan Annies IncBlytheville, Arkansas
- EIN
- 81-0881057Gifts are tax-deductible
- Status
- 501(c)(3) public charityExempt effective 2 November 2015
- Classification
- 509(a)(3), Type IIA supporting organization — we exist to fund the Blytheville Humane Society
- Annual filing
- Form 990-NFiscal year ends 31 August. Under $50,000 in gross receipts — a genuinely small operation
- Look us up
- Nonprofit Explorer →ProPublica’s copy of the public IRS record
What a supporting organization is
Why an animal charity is filed under Human Services.
It looks like a filing error and it is not. The IRS classifies a charity by what it is, not by what the charity it funds happens to do.
TYPE II
Supervised in connection with it
Type II means the two organisations share common supervision or control. It is the closest of the arrangements the IRS recognises, short of being the same organisation.
NTEE P11
Filed as single-organization support
Hence the classification. It describes the shape of the charity, not the animals at the end of it. Donor-advised funds can grant to Type II organisations without extra due diligence.
How a donation becomes dog food
Three steps, no payroll in between.
Most charities start by asking you for money. We start by asking for what is already in your closet — and then we do the rest of the work ourselves.
STEP 01
You clear out a closet
Clothes, kitchenware, furniture, books, tools, toys. The things you are finished with are the things somebody two streets over is still looking for.
STEP 02
Volunteers put it on the shelf
We sort it, clean it, price it low, and sell it. Nobody here draws a salary, so nothing gets skimmed off between your donation and the animals.
STEP 03
The shelter keeps its doors open
Proceeds go to the Blytheville Humane Society: food, litter, vaccinations, spay and neuter, and the electric bill that keeps the kennels warm.
Questions we get at the register
Frequently asked.
Can I adopt a pet at the thrift store?
No — the store and the shelter are two different places. We raise the money; the Blytheville Humane Society and Blytheville Animal Services handle adoptions and reclaims. Ask us and we will point you in the right direction.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. Orphan Annies Inc has been a 501(c)(3) public charity since 2 November 2015, EIN 81-0881057, and the IRS letter confirms contributions are deductible. Ask for a receipt when you drop off — you set the valuation, we confirm the donation.
Why won’t you take my mattress? It is barely used.
Arkansas treats used bedding as a regulated product: to resell a mattress the seller needs a state permit and has to sanitize it and tag it as sanitized. We are a volunteer crew with a sales floor, not a licensed renovator, so bedding is one of the few things we have to turn away no matter how good it looks.
Do you pick up large furniture?
Sometimes, depending on volunteers and the truck. Call (870) 623-9964 and we will tell you honestly whether we can get to it.
What are your store hours?
Monday through Saturday, 8 AM to 5 PM. Closed Sunday. Note that donation drop-off is a narrower window than shopping — Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, before 2 PM.
Where does the money actually go?
To the Blytheville Humane Society. Because we have no paid staff, the store’s only real expenses are the building and the utilities. Everything past that goes to animal care.
Reach a person
Contact Orphan Annie’s.
We are a volunteer organization, so the phone during store hours is by far the fastest way to reach us. Email is read, but it can take a few days.
Phone — fastest
(870) 623-9964Monday to Saturday, 8 AM to 5 PM. Donations, volunteering, large pickups, anything at all.
Questions, donation receipts, volunteering, press and partnership enquiries all come here.
Ask for
Pam FordPam handles donations, volunteer shifts and anything that needs a decision. Ask for her by name at the store or on the phone.
926 E Promised Land Road
Blytheville, AR 72315
Our mailing address, and where checks payable to Orphan Annies Inc should go. The store itself is at 510 N Broadway.