<p>Hey guys, so I really would like to start a not for profit organization that would operate locally in my area and hopefully provide for/cut medical expenses of those community members who are afflicted by cancer. </p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone else in the CC community has ever done something like this and if they had any advice for me!</p>
<p>Thanks,
pb</p>
<p>My advice is to outline your entire business plan, then post it on CC so everyone can steal your idea and eventually be able to put “starting a non-profit” on their application. </p>
<p>But seriously, have you outlined what you want to do? I’d start with a formal plan. Ask yourself some of these questions:
-How will you go about cutting medical expenses? For example, will you just raise money and foot some of the cost, or will you make a deal with drug companies?
-How much money do you plan on raising? If you don’t plan on raising money, how much money do you need, if any, to execute your plan?
-Who will work for you? Where will you operate? How formal will your non-profit be?
-Will you get a website?<br>
-If you plan on raising money, how will you go about that?
and the list goes on.</p>
<p>You could get advice from CC first, but don’t you want to foster your own creativity and innovation in coming up with this plan (which, I add, would be a kick-a** idea to write a college essay about)?</p>
<p>IMO, starting a non profit is a great idea. But pick something else to help though, trying to subsidize medical costs will be very difficult given the high pricing on medical treatment. </p>
<p>In all regards though, if you are able to raise enough money, and can somehow subsidize a decent amount of medical costs for people that need it, that will be nuts on your app.</p>
<p>Like Senior0991 said though, you need a plan, you can’t just start it overnight. It’s gonna require at least a couple months of planning.</p>
<p>Instead of reinventing the wheel, take your time and energy and organize activities to raise money for already existing nonprofits that help cancer victims. Google and you can find some.</p>
<p>Starting a nonprofit takes an enormous amount of work – at least a year, and includes setting up a board --with people who are responsible and experienced in the cause and in doing things like keeping track of the finances. Boards also can be sued, so people take on such responsibilities seriously.</p>
<p>By the time you did this, it would be time for you to move away to college. More reason to organize fundraising activities and donate to an already existing organization. Trust me: Even organizing a fun run or dance marathon or charity concert will take more time and effort than right now you’d ever imagine.</p>
<p>If your reason is to impress colleges, admissions officers know how much work it takes to organize a fund raiser, so organizing one through an existing organization would be far more impressive than spending a year just setting up a nonprofit to duplicate activities that other organizations already do.</p>
<p>While, obviously, it would look good on a college app, the main reason I would really want to do this is to be able to give back to a community and make it so that people just maybe won’t have to go through what my family had to when my grandmother passed away due to liver cancer…Also, I find it horrible that some people are put irretrevably into debt due to medical costs. But, if it really is that hard, I guess it would probably be more efficient and realistic just to organize a fundraiser or something of that nature.</p>
<p>I thank all of you for the advice! I will probably look into the non profit stuff, but I also found a group that is in my area that provides students with the option of starting a club, business, or not for profit with 1000 seed money…I shall see!</p>
<p>Once again, thanks so much!</p>
<p>^Yeah, good point there as well. I just realized that the OP would specifically helping cancer patients. For those without insurance, costs run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and for those with insurance, up to the maximum per year payment if they have one (I’m not an authority on this, but just from what I’ve heard before). </p>
<p>Food deliveries would be a lot easier and less costly, but they might have that covered. If you still want to help cancer patients, think of what you could do to improve their lives that is within feasible means for a new nonprofit. Here’s a good example: there is this organization that brings diseased veterans to Washington DC on a plane. They could pay the veterans’ medical costs, but this is a different, cheaper way to give the dying veterans a happy week (similar to make a wish).</p>
<p>And don’t go through all that official mumbo-jumbo somebody else mentioned. Just start an organization, don’t get big enough to get noticed by the government, and that’s in essence a nonprofit.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I doubt the organization will give you 1000 dollars unless you have a sound business plan, but you might as well check anyways.</p>
<p>I’m sort of in a similar position- I’d really love to start my own animal welfare organization. I really have no idea how to start! But I think that I’m going to wait until during/after college. It helps to have lot of resources and connections for these kinds of things (and a lot of free time!). For now I’m just working with other organizations- which can also be helpful, because you can learn how these things are ran and possibly some advice from the people who started them</p>
<p>Senior 0991, I really like the idea of doing something more feasible such as “make a wish” or food deliveries. As a high school student, it would be A LOT easier to do something of this nature! But, I just had an idea…something that helps those patients pass away at home…because, in all seriousness, I never actually got to see my grandmother when she passed away…she was taken to a ICU or some type of care home and then passed away…</p>
<p>So maybe, food delivery or just subsidizing the costs of keeping someone at home etc would be more feasible? Thoughts?</p>
<p>And, good luck to you Concerto3! I really think that if more people help out in this way…or even by simply volunteering at a hospital or animal shelter…the world would be a much better place! (from an idealistic high schooler) =]</p>
<p>First off, I sympathize with your situation with your grandmother. The same thing happened with my grandpa, and I just wanted to see him one last time, but at least I could talk to him on the phone. </p>
<p>Anyways, I think the costs of keeping someone at home would be pretty high. And they have hospices and nursing homes for that. Maybe you could pay for distant relatives to come see their family before they go. I think that would be cheaper and would help more people.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for the help Senior! </p>
<p>I will totally get on this because it really seems like I could possibly do this! I’m excited now! </p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>I’m also very sorry about your grandpa…death =/ such a horrible, yet strangley…awe inspiring thing if you really think about it.</p>
<p>Maybe this site can help. It has $500 grants for teens’ service projects.</p>
<p>[Do</a> Something](<a href=“http://www.dosomething.org/grants]Do”>http://www.dosomething.org/grants)</p>
<p>Also just helping one person who has cancer would be a big deal. For instance, I recently read about a homeless woman who has terminal cancer and also is the single parent of young teen. Raising money to help the woman and her daughter find permanent shelter – even in a motel room – would be extremely helpful. I’m sure that if you check in your community, you could find a cancer patient in desperate straits whom you could help. While your idea of helping people see their loved ones is a good one, there really are cancer patients who can’t afford their medicine or who can’t get to their doctors appointments.</p>
<p>I really am overwhelmed by the responses on this thread. So thankful for helpful people like Northstarmom, Senior, and Reigndrop!</p>
<p>All of these are wonderful ideas that I will most definitely follow up on after IB/AP season!</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>I’m interested in starting a nonprofit like the OP.</p>
<p>Is there any way to start an “informal” nonprofit organization without having to wait a year to get it registered and meet all those requirements and everything? I’d rather have more freedom with the organization.</p>
<p>Nothing against the O.P. but this is just the latest bandwagon to get on to make a kid’s EC stand out from the others. In rather wealthy towns by me this sort of thing comes up every year. Kids set up a charity as ‘their’ idea, get their picture in the papers send the article to admissions, etc. etc. In the last decade it’s just the latest version of one-upmanship with the charities often becoming nothing but a memory after the kid goes to college. </p>
<p>There is not a chance in the world that top colleges don’t see and notice this trend. It would be interesting to know what they really think about it.</p>
<p>Stating a non-profit is not difficult and does not take a year to do. Setting up a corporation is done through your state (in our state it takes 10 minutes and $50), and getting 501 (c)3 non-profit status through the IRS is almost automatic if you can complete a simple form.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to starting a nonprofit. It may seem simple, but it’s not easy to find good board members, for instance. One doesn’t just ask one’s best friends because being a board member means having a great deal of legal responsibility, including the possibility of being sued.</p>
<p>People who start nonprofits and are serious about it, put a great deal of thought and effort into the organizing, including developing the mission statement, researching the cause that the nonprofit would support, etc. It’s not just a matter of filling out and filing paperwork.</p>
<p>[How</a> to Start a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization - wikiHow](<a href=“http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-501c3-Nonprofit-Organization]How”>How to Start a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization (with Pictures))</p>