In 2015, about 1.09 million organizations were classified as public charities, composing about two-thirds of all registered nonprofits. There are a vast number of non-profits tackling every type of issue. It would be rare that more good would come from creating a new charity than trying to work within one of the existing 1.09 million public charities in the US.
Except, as they grow, they do compete for both major and minor donors. Alexâs Lemonade Stand shows major corporate sponsors: Northwestern Mutual, Apple Beeâs, Five Below, and Volvo among others. At the individual level, if a family budgets $X for medical charities each year and decides to give it to ALSF, then that $X isnât going to the American Cancer Society or the Breast Cancer Research Foundation that year.
OPâs major complaint doesnât seem to be that small charities started by students take money from bigger groups. It appears they resent the leg up they think those students get in college admissions. Starting a charity isnât a tip.
Yes, but at that point they are legit charities with a track record. If Northwestern Mutual chooses to direct corporate funds to Alexâs Lemonade Stand â which specifically funds pediatric research â as opposed to American Cancer Society or Breast Cancer Research â which are not focused on childhood cancers â thatâs a legitimate choice. From their foundation page at http://foundation.northwesternmutual.com/ it looks like they are particularly committed to the cause of childhood cancer. Apparently, only 4% of research money from ACS goes to childhood cancer (https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2015/12/18/childood-cancer-research-jane-roper).
Charity Navigator gives Alexâs Lemonade Stand a 4 star rating, compared to 3 stars for American Cancer Society. One reason is that 88% of every dollar donated to Alexâs goes to research, but only 74% of the money to the ACS ends up going to research-- as they allocate a much larger portion of their budget to fundraising costs. (Which is why weâve all heard of ACS but not Alexâs ).
Charity Navigator also lists Alexâs Lemonade Stand as among the 10 best medical research charities â https://blog.charitynavigator.org/2018/09/americas-10-best-medical-research.html Iâd add that âAlexâ was a child who died of cancer in 2004 â she had started a lemonade stand at age 4 to raise money for to donate to the hospital where she had received a stem cell transplant. The actual foundation was created by her parents after her death.
âReading to kids is no big tip.â
I donât know about that, I know some students who did read to kids in underprivileged areas who needed help in reading comprehension as they were falling behind in class, typically in elementary schools. I donât know how much they wrote about this or highlighted it, but these kids did fine wrt selective college admissions. You have noted how adcoms donât like âsave the worldâ trips to foreign countries and would prefer applicants do things local. Well going to a low-income part of your town to make sure just one kid stays on track wrt reading would be a pretty good example of that.
This is pretty normal, in my experience. My own HS, plus my kidsâ, had service requirements and/or encouraged service of various kinds. Add HS clubs, teams, service orgs and then scouting, religious orgs and whatever else in the community, and many kids do spend some time volunteering whether they are particularly motivated to or not.
ALSF is far from the only charity to target pediatric cancer. In the aggregate, it would have to be more efficient for some of these charities to merge or never to have created so many to begin with.
Bigger/older is not always equivalent with âbetter.â Many times something new is started and/or grows because the established is not doing a good (or efficient) job. Competition is not always a bad thing - even with non-profits. It can be, but it isnât always. A donor should always do at least some research whether itâs to a registered non-profit or for the sad tale they read online or hear about in the grocery store line if they want their money put to the best use (as they define it).
I think AO should give points for starting a non-profit. Should also give points for just doing good deeds without having to start a full non-profit (which I really doubt most are doing since it takes a long time to get the paperwork though).
However, they should take away points if there are no plans to insure the non-profit will continue after the student heads off to college. Having a one or two year business plan doesnât show anything about running a charity.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Just go through an existing organizaiton.
Funny how this topic has responses from so many different directions. The point of comm service is to do for others because we can, not to be Mr or Ms Big Founder. Certainly not to just collect hours. To me, itâs an expression of our humanity and humility.
If a college wants to see compassionate action, whatâs wrong with that? Why do so many threads loop back to the idea this is fake padding? If you do service, you DO it. Great. If you only choose activities you can proclaim some huge passion for, you miss the point.
But letâs not confuse raising some dollars with actually finding the courage to roll up our sleeves and get involved. The âtestâ of helping others isnât just doing X for no compensation. Or at such a distance or so indirectly that your hands, so to say, stay clean. Thereâs a world of need out there. Locally, for people, not just for âmeâ or âmy momentary feel good.â Not just because it suits âyou.â
I encouraged my kids from 6th grade on. They lost the fear, came to love the effort, the work, the people they helped, even in small ways. Serving a meal doesnât eradicate world hunger, but it does expand our perspective outside our own boxes⊠Why not?
Why does so much on CC boil down to whether an action feeds US, our passions, rather than simply the good?
Probably because the major objective for many on CC is to gain admission to the colleges they deem most desirable. Any strategies that help to achieve those ends will be embraced by parents and kids, most of whom are not passionate about charitable endeavors.
I wish Iâd made my kids do more community service. I donât care if itâs padding, I think from my experience, and from theirs, that until you do it, you donât realize how it changes you. Iâve received much more than Iâve given in almost every community service experience I was involved in.
Both our local public and our kidsâ private high school require it for that very reason. Not all children are exposed by their families and mandatory requirements can spark lifelong involvement. As a 4Her when I was very young, I buy into their motto:
âI pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my worldâ.
These are some of the questions I ask someone thinking about starting their own nonprofit:
Is this something worth doing? Is there a real need for the work? Will it improve the lives of the people you want to help? Do the people you aim to help actually want your help? Without a solid plan, adequate training and/or expertise and buy-in from your target client community you can actually hurt your cause. (See the TOMâs controversy). Have you considered the possible adverse effects of your intervention?
Is this something you could do without creating a formal charity? For instance, letâs say you want to have a charity that supports local animal shelters by gathering used items from the local community. You want the flexibility to pick and choose shelters, not just support one. Great, but you donât need a nonprofit to do that. You can simply do the work. The only reason to form a nonprofit is to issue tax-deductible receipts, something you donât need to do if the vast majority of your donations will be in-kind (non monetary) and small cash offerings. No oneâs really going to quibble if they donât get a receipt for their $10 donation and it will cost more than that to do your required annual filing as a 501©(3).
Is someone already doing something similar? If so, what expertise or special skills do you bring to the table that will allow you to do it better? Why reinvent the wheel? In doing so you may be hurting your cause by draining resources from someone already doing it better than you can. Consider joining an existing nonprofit and working your way into the groupâs leadership.
Whatâs your 5 year plan? Your 10 year plan? Who would take over if you were unable to continue? This is not just a question for students. Every nonprofit needs a succession plan for leadership and a sustainable funding path.
Are you willing to take on all the boring work of maintaining a nonprofit? Writing Articles of Incorporation and creating a website are sexy. Making sure your state tax status is updated, keeping good books, and transcribing meeting minutes are not. Be honest with yourself. What are the chances you will lose interest or become unable to continue in your role? Would you be willing to do all the boring stuff to keep your charity going even if no one ever knew you were the founder of the organization? Thereâs no shame in admitting to yourself that you like the limelight but it should inform your decision as to whether you have the stamina to maintain a formal nonprofit organization long into the future.
- All that said, thereâs nothing wrong with starting a new nonprofit if you see a genuine need you can fulfill. For context, ten years ago my husband and I started a public charity (a 501©(3)). It was initially self-funded and tiny. Over time weâve grown to where we have an international board, hundreds of volunteers and donors, and have been featured in multiple publications. Weâre incorporated in two countries, waiting to hear about our incorporation status in a third. Most of the work is boring but itâs also very rewardingâŠAnd now itâs time for me to stop scolding and get back to writing grant requests!*