Three Nonprofit Startup Tips

Law Blog

If you're passionate about a social issue, a disease, or a cause, you might be eager to start a group or nonprofit organization to galvanize support and make a difference. Doing this work can be a rewarding experience and can make changes happen. However, you need to observe certain guidelines and take certain actions to ensure that your startup is financially healthy and has the support you need. Which decisions make sense for your nonprofit startup?

1. Know You're Needed

First, you must realize that it might not be feasible to begin an entirely new organization if you're unsure how many people will sign on to the cause. Research is paramount; you must find out where people are that would be interested in your nonprofit. Do they live in your city? Do they live across the country? You need to have some idea of how many people are affected by the issues related to your startup. For instance, if you're interested in saving an animal, how many people are interested in that animal? You can usually use social media to gauge interest in various causes and topics.

2. Write Down Goals or a Single Mission Statement

To clarify things and ensure you're not encroaching on an existing organization's "turf," mission statements or written goals are key. If you'd like to start a worldwide project for saving the manatees, for instance, there might already be a nonprofit doing that work. You may instead want to focus on saving manatees in your particular state. 

Having clear goals also helps those wanting to donate charitably to better understand what you're doing and what you see happening with the donations they provide.

3. Seek Funding

You're likely to need to reach out not only to individual donors but to larger organizations that give to nonprofits. However, to secure those donations, you're going to have to act like a business in some ways. Most importantly, you'll have to devise a real business plan that lays out what money your nonprofit will need to operate successfully and how you'll make that happen. You'll need to lay out a real plan so people are encouraged to help you.

Once all these elements are in place, you can really start reaching out to the people you're hoping will join you in your work. Seek nonprofit startup services like Legal For Good PLLC to assist you in structuring and beginning your organization's work. This assistance will protect you from mistakes which can interfere with your goals and the success of your group.

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10 May 2019

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