Starting a non-profit as a Freshman?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I’m a Freshman in High School and I want to start a non-profit. Here’s what I’m planning to do. I’m going to make a website where you get an opportunity to be pen pals with a cancer patient. I want to make this a world-wide organization. For example: you can be pen pals with a cancer patient from Germany. Do you think this is possible? It’s my first time creating a business…

2

That sounds like an awesome idea! It sounds like you’re a very proactive individual. And as cliched as it is, if you’re willing to make the commitment and work, your idea could really take off.
A few things to note:

  1. See if there are other programs around that share your mission, and see if you can get involved with it. It wouldn’t really make sense to start your own non-profit, if another organization is already doing what you want to do.
  2. Look for help! Maybe a close friend or a classmate who you know would be interested and you would want to partner with, or maybe even a faculty member or a teacher at your school who would be willing to supervise you. Starting an entire non-profit alone is a huge burden, and there would be a lot of responsibility.
  3. Start small: Maybe advertise a pen-pal session at your school, or ask your teacher if maybe he/she would be willing to give up class time to have the class write letters. Jumping to a world-wide organization is a big step: You want to make sure you can have success locally and that people really want to support your mission.
  4. Also, think about if your goal is truly a non-profit: Maybe it’s just a service project/community you want to establish. From my understanding, a non-profit usually connotes an organization that receives funding, and uses its surplus funds to contribute to some cause; to be recognized as a “non-profit,” there are usually some official governmental forms that allow organizations to be tax-exempt.

*Who am I to give advice?
I currently am the project director and co-founder of my own personal service project. Our mission is to help make community service more personal by going out and having conversations with the homeless while offering them material help. The advice above is from my personal experience.