Starting a Cancer charity?

Question

Ok I was wondering if someone could help me find out how to start a cancer charity. Ill actually tell the story so u can get some background.

A few years ago my family was in a pretty bad wreck and my dad was messed up. the lady that hit us had no insurance and nothing to her name. My family was all injured but my dad was the worst. He was in a wheel chair for months and never regained total movement in his left arm. My dad was out of work for about a year. My dad works at a local bar and has worked their since 1979. Everyone who works their knows him and hes a favorite (drinking buddy) of many of the richer customers. When my dad was first hurt there was a huge banquet for my family because my dad was struggling. The people who owned the resteraunt threw the banquet and our family got a lot of morale support and money. My dad recently passed away of cancer (diagnosed jan of this year and died feb of this year). The same people are throwing another benefit for our family and in memory of my dad. I mean they usually raise about 10,000 dollars from dinner and raffles and stuff. Im the oldest of the four kids (21 years old) and before we even left the hospital after my dad was diagnosed he told me to be strong for everyone. After this years banquet I would like to keep on a tradition of hosting a banquet for a family whose mother or father died of cancer and left behind a wife and some kids. Id actually like there to be a few things a year and at the end of the year give the money to the family. What would be the best way to go about starting this. When my dad said to be strong I took it as a personal thing to do and try to take care of my family, which i am doing my best to help my mom and siblings. I would also like to help other families who have a situation like we do but do not have the friends like my dad had who had the money to help financially. Im sorry this is so long, I just wanted to give you some background as to why i want to set this up. What can and should I do??

Answer 1

You need to focus on exactly what you want to do . . and than go ahead and do it . . get going in other words . . everything else will fall into place. Here is a guide to help you along the way:

Wiki How: How to start a Charity

http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Charity

Wiki How:  How to Start a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization

http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-501c3-Non...

It's a wonderful way to honor your father . . best of luck to you.

Answer 2

I am so sorry, I dont know how to help but you have a great idea!  

Answer 3

What a lovely idea - good luck with this.

If you want to start a charity, the first thing is to ensure that any money raised is officially accounted for - that is the law, and protects people who give donations from someone just asking for money and spending it on themselves!

There are various ways of doing this, but perhaps the easiest would be to ask if those who are already raising the funds, if they would be Trustees or oversea your charity.  You could also ask your local church, or bank, or someone with a legal background to help you get started, and act as Trustees.  .  

Get a small advisory team together, and then contact your office of the Charity Commissioners, or whatever is the local authority that overseas charities.  If you explain things they way you have above, they will advise you what to do next, and your advisory team could take the burden of the paperwork off your hands.

Good luck with the charity, and if you do the ground work well at the start, you will find things much easier - and hopefully your charity will go on to help many others.

Hope this is helpful.

Verite R