Kimball Cheryl - Start Your Own Nonprofit Organization

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Contents

T he essence of a nonprofit organization can be summed up as serving mission, not profit. Whether your mission is saving puppies, feeding children, preserving history, or the myriad other missions that nonprofits set out to achieve, the ultimate goal is to spend what you bring inwisely, of courseon the mission.

A nonprofit organizations mission statement is extremely important. While the mission statement in the corporate world became trendy around the time of Stephen Coveys The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and eventually turned into another marketing exercise, a nonprofit organizations mission statement has always and truly been the key to why the organization exists at all.

Dont be duped into thinking that just because you dont need to make a profit, running a nonprofit is easy! Even if donations come rolling in and you find committed donors interested in supporting your mission, the IRS expects nonprofits to run a very tight ship. There are rules to abide by, bylaws to be written and carefully followed, reports to be created. The Form 990the nonprofit equivalent of the taxpayers 1040 tax return formis long and complex. Financials need to be audited.

Taxes and financials are just the beginning. Nonprofit organizations must consider almost every aspect that any for-profit organization doesfrom human resources to marketing to sales (thought of as sponsorships in the nonprofit world, but theyre sales, nonetheless) to database management. Throw in some extras like a board of trustees, donor cultivation and stewardship, and other things unique to nonprofits, and it becomes clear how complex nonprofit organizations are.

But all that said, dont be scared away! Nonprofit organizations provide essential services to the world and provide some meaningful work to employees and volunteers.

T he great majority of nonprofits start because someone is on a mission to help serve a need in their community that isnt being served otherwise. That need could be as seemingly obscure as preserving specimens of old appliances to as obvious as helping people who are lacking financial means get basic necessities. In fact, federal, state, and local governments seem to rely on the nonprofit sector to extend the assistance available to those in needfrom abuse safe houses, to addiction rehabilitation, to feeding hungry children, and definitely to pets in need, a need in every community to which the government does not contribute in almost any way and which is fully addressed by nonprofit animal shelters and rescue organizations.

Other organizations keep the cultural aspect of our society intact. Nonprofit theatre groups, literary organizations, art museums, and historic preservation groups ensure that the history and culture of our society are not only preserved, but continue on.

In turn, for helping fulfill the needs of the greater community, these organizations are given nonprofit status in the eyes of the IRS and are not required to pay taxes on the donations they receive. And donors to the nonprofits are further encouraged to donate, not just to help the needy or preserve cultural artifacts for future generations, but also for the pot-sweetener that these donations are (typically) tax deductible. It ultimately is a win-win-win situationthe nonprofit gets to fulfill its mission without dealing with tax dollars, the donor gets to donate for the advantage of tax benefits, and the government gets help fulfilling its mission of taking care of its citizens.

What is the mission that is near and dear to you? Nonprofits exist in almost every category imaginable.

Hospitals represent some of the largest nonprofits in the United States. Not only are they large, but they are very complicated and very expensive, each representing millions of nonprofit dollars. Tufts Medical in Massachusetts, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and Loma Linda University Medical Center in California are all extremely well-known nonprofit hospitals attracting patients from all over the world. They all have giving programs and receive donations from grateful patients or their families or alumni of the university with which they are affiliated. Many nonprofit medical centers have three-tiered nonprofit programs including educational, medical treatment, and research.