For the Public Good: Starting Your Educational Non-Profit

An electronic book

 

By:  Marie Richie


 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Chapter 1 – Introduction. 5

Is This Something You Really Want to Do? 5

What Sort of Person Starts an Educational or Research Non-Profit? 6

Chapter 2 – Making a Big Decision. 8

Pros 8

Tax Exempt Status 8

Educational and Research Opportunities 9

Serving underprivileged members of the community. 10

Public education that serves a useful purpose. 10

Research. 11

Community Support 13

Liability Protection. 13

Cons 14

Tax Exempt Status 14

Big Commitment of Time. 16

Big Commitment of Effort 16

Political 17

The Public Good. 18

Untangling the public good from your own. 19

Charitable Education. 19

Finances 21

Access to Start-up Resources 21

Keeping the organization financially healthy after startup. 22

Is it worth it? 22

Chapter 3 – Jumping In. 23

Determining The NPOs Limited Mission. 23

The Mission Statement 23

Gauge the beneficiary audience. 23

Setting specific limits for the NPO. 24

Calculating Your Level of Involvement as Founder 24

Drafting Appropriate and Binding By-laws 25

Finding a Good Board of Directors 26

Qualified individuals 26

Willing individuals 26

Finding the board. 27

The dos and don’ts of non-profit involvement 27

Potential conflict of interest 28

Representing the public interest 28

Attendance at regular meetings 28

Getting it all together for review. 29

The business plan. 29

Asking for a loan. 30

Completing Paperwork and Filing for Tax-Exemption. 30

State. 30

Federal / IRS. 31

County. 33

City. 33

Members 33

Post office. 34

Chapter 4 – Implementation. 35

Startup capital 35

Grants 35

Donations 36

Endowments 36

Keeping start-up costs as low as possible. 37

Talking to the bank. 37

Planning for a Steady Flow of Operational Income. 38

Operational budget 38

Grants 38

Writing them yourself 38

Contracting for grant writing. 39

Hiring employees to write grants 39

Increase your grant writing efficiency. 39

Feeder Organization. 40

Goods 41

Services 41

Media. 42

Intellectual property. 42

Unrelated Business Income Tax. 42

Support From Other Non-profits 42

Donations 43

Soliciting. 44

Accepting. 44

Reporting. 45

Allocating. 45

Restrictions 45

Employees 45

Self-employment 45

Family members 46

Non-profit labor laws 46

Employment taxes 46

Volunteers 46

Recruitment 46

Compensation or benefits 47

Insurance requirement 47

International volunteers 47

Members 47

Membership criteria. 48

Membership benefits 48

Membership media. 48

Reporting membership information. 48

Contracting work for the NPO. 49

Chapter 5 - Organizational Maintenance. 50

Managing cash flow. 50

Basic business operations 50

Maintaining ledgers 50

Petty cash. 51

Chief financial officer / treasurer duties 51

Managing board operations 51

Elections 51

Resolving conflicts 51

Scheduling meetings 51

Ethics and accountability code. 52

Marketing. 52

Print and radio ads 53

Mailers and direct marketing. 53

Community outreach and events 53

Maintaining Status with the IRS. 53

Filing form 990. 53

Gathering accounting information for declaration. 54

Gathering personal information for declaration. 54

Re-upping your commitment 54

Making sure the NPO is still on-mission. 54

Estimating financial success 55

Determining the emerging needs of your constituency. 55

Accounting. 55

Annual reports 55

Statement of activities 56

Statement of cash flows 56