How do you get a non profit charity started?

Question

How do you get a non profit charity started?

Answer 1

You could read most of the most relevant verses from the holy Quran/Koran on charity. http://www.progressive-muslim.org/zakat-...

Giving charity is one of the most important things to do for the cause of God only and not for show off.

Answer 2

The Nonprofit FAQs (http://www.nonprofits.org), now hosted at IdeaList, will give you information on all the paperwork you will need to file and administrative tasks you will have to go through in order to form a nonprofit. There are also tips on recruiting a board of directors.

But first, you need to get a very impassioned group of people together who support your idea, you need to get letters of endorsement from existing organizations saying this program is needed, and you need to have data that shows your target group is in need whatever service it is that you want to provide and that they are not served otherwise.

The mission of your organization would be to serve whom? How? Why?

Answer 3

Here is how we started our ministry that helps ppl in need in southern Appalachia.  First we started collecting food to take to people who needed it.  There were a lot of people in need.  So we knew there was a need for what bwe were doing.   At first our church was sort of a sponsor for it but after a yr or so we needed to do more than that.  

We had a small group of ppl who wanted to help.  We called the office of our state secretary of state and they sent the forms to incoprporate as a nonprofit coropration in our state.   I filled them out and sent them back with the fee (in our state that is $99 plus $40 to the newspaper for a required legal ad saying we were incorporating,   A lawyer is good to have to help you on this. We didn't. Later on we had a lawyer look at our paperwork and he suggested some changes.  Then we found out the way we did it first was right and his way wasn't so we had to put it back the way we had it.  (sigh).    

If you want federal nonprofit status so people can take donations off their taxes there are IRS forms to fill out and you probably do need a lawyer there unless you can arrange to have an organization that is already a 5901c3 (federally OK'd nonprofit) be your fiscal agent for a while or become covered by a group exemption like through your church denomination.   Sometimes a lawyer will donate their time but it is about $450 in fees to IRS and months of waiting for approval.  

You will need a board which can be civic leaders or just plain people who care and have good sense.   They should be 21 plus.  It is a good idea to have at least 5-7 people for the board but no more than 11-15 or it bogs down in discussions.  You can also have an advisory bd if you want.

Plan your projects within what you can accomplish.  For example you can not end world hunger but you can help kids in X city or neighborhood have nutritious food.   You can not save all animals but you can perhaps help a specific wildlife preserve or help provide spaying and neutering for cats and dogs in your area.   By setting goals you can achieve you build up a track record of doing what you say you will do and that makes fundraising a lot easier.