Hi, I am curious about knowing what it takes to start a nonprofit organization as a high school student, if it is even possible as a junior, and how to plan to make one efficiently.
Thanks y’all!
Are these 4 thing true?
- It is a cause which has no NGOs that perform it,
- You are confident that it will not only fulfill its purpose, but do more than the bare minimum, meaning that you have a fully developed business plan
- Do your plans set up a way to make sure that it will continue when you graduate?
If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, any do not, I repeat, do not start another nonprofit.
There is no lack of popup nonprofits started by students because they think that “it will help me in my college applications”, that pull funding away from NGOs which are doing it more efficiently than most students are able, are badly run, are financially wasteful, and collapse once the founder graduates.
The only reason, and I mean the ONLY reason to start a nonprofit is if there is need for it, and it’s not being done by any NGO or government agency, and you have the energy, organization skills, time, and funding to set it up so it is will run well and will continue after you graduate.
Establishing a viable nonprofit which performs its purpose efficiently, has an wide reach, and which is independent of its founder, usually takes years. If you start as a junior, it likely will not be much by your senior year, unless you are a super energetic, person who is also an amazing planner.
Since your idea of looking for information about establishing a nonprofit is to post on an online forum that discusses college issues, you do not seem like a person who would able to establish a viable nonprofit in a year. This is especially true if the reason that you are establishing the nonprofit is because another anonymous online person suggested it. So please don’t do it.
What you should do is try to find whether there is an organization at the national, state or local level, and reach out to them as ask what you can do to help them with their mission.
I have started to reacquaint myself with the US college admission process (my D22 will be applying to college next fall) and have come across quite a few high-achieving high schoolers (those admitted to highly selective universities or winning merit scholarships/other accolades) who have started non-profits. My D22 has also noticed this and has responded “I probably won’t get in because I haven’t started a non-profit” when I mentioned certain selective schools or summer programs to her recently.
This is such a far cry from what’s expected of high schoolers 30 or so years ago. No one that I knew back then who got into the most selective universities started a non-profit (perhaps due to a lack of ambition or imagination!). While I know many high schoolers are highly idealistic and want to do good in the world, some have said a lot of this is merely “virtue-signaling” to colleges (and, going by the the profiles of the students mentioned above, it seems to be working).
What’s next in the ever-intensifying race to stand out (particularly given that TO might persist for some time and colleges will focus more on other areas of the college application)?
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This is not new. It’s been going on for 30 years now. And virtue-signaling, if the signal is large enough, works. But I’m not sure it has to be a non-profit. You could start a service organization that provides a service related to your interests. If you can recruit other students to participate in it, it might serve the same purpose.