<p>Anybody done this that would be willing to provide help and/or links? How long does it take?</p>
<p>It is somewhat difficult. The is a Nonprofit Kit for Dummies. You need to set up a 501c3 corporation. Nolo press (very reliable legal how-to books) has a book on it. How to Start a Nonprofit Corporation by Anthony Mancuso & Diana Fitzpatrick.</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to do. Getting together a group of people and doing whatever it is you think should be done to help others is pretty easy. Incorporating is, as bettina said, somewhat difficult and gaining tax-exempt status even more so (tons of paperwork and dealing with the IRS).</p>
<p>posting a question like that on collegeconfidential doesn't bode well for the right intentions...</p>
<p>That's a good point. What kind of organization are you trying to start and why?</p>
<p>why-um, a hook, obviously</p>
<p>"posting a question like that on collegeconfidential doesn't bode well for the right intentions..."</p>
<p>That's not true at all. The reason I chose to post it on here is I knew it was likely that people have done it. The only reason I may need to start a non-profit in the 1st place is I have had a hard time doing events where the proceeds go to two charities. With my own non-profit name I would have more flexbility to do this w/o forcing participants to write a check to me personally.</p>
<p>I am involved in fundraising for both my school and for an organization that provides aid to orphanages in China. I am planning a large event (golf tournament) and I would like the money to go to both. The school has a tough time w/ writing a check away to another non-profit, so I thought this might be the way to go.</p>
<p>Believe me...this isn't for college. It's to provide help to the orphanage where my family adopted my sister from. At the same time, people here are super-involved and I thought a handful might know where to start. For that, thank you bettina.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I appologize for thinking that. It's just that a lot of people do everything just for college, as you have probably noticed. Zemookmook for example (j/k) That's great that you're doing this though. Sorry i can't provide much help in this area, but good luck :)</p>
<p>no worries. if someone else asked that question I'd probably think the same thing. :)</p>
<p>Yeah, my bad too. Sounds good though, I wish you luck.</p>
<p>(collegeconfidential people tend to be college-obsessed, my bad)</p>
<p>I think it wasn't good for your image to post this in the "College Admissions" forum (charity is all about image!). lol. seriously, it's great that you are doing this though. have a plan for raising some money this year too. not going to go to the trouble of starting my own organization though. PM me sometime if u wanna talk or xchange ideas maybe. </p>
<p>sorry cant offer any help. I wish u luck though. </p>
<p>I'm chinese =)</p>
<p>vtran, if i was taking 15 AP classes or whatever you're doing I don't think I would be doing much of anything! That's awesome though. You people amaze me. </p>
<p>CC should work together on something. We should have an int'l charity w/ all the people on here...I'm sure it would be incredible. :)</p>
<p>"Believe me...this isn't for college."</p>
<p>Then I guess you won't be recording the non-profit organization you started by yourself and spent hours on in your college apps, huh?</p>
<p>Why wouldn't he? If this turns out to work out for him, he'll have to put in his share of work. Why can't you just accept the fact that not EVERYONE does EVERYTHING for college?</p>
<p>GIVE HIM A BREAK. JEEEZ. HEs just trying to find something to put in his college application. HEs obviously desparate after seeing all these crazy stats. Just tell him and get our lives move along</p>
<p>uh..... i really don't know, in fact, i don't even know why I'm even posting this</p>
<p>You know it's weird starting a non-profit org. You need money to start the orginization. But, you also need money for your cause. You don't want to be in the position of asking people for money to start your orginization when there's no evidence of any money going to your cause. Every business venture, including non-profit, requires strategy, money, chance, and hard-work to get off the ground and thrive. </p>
<p>If this thing is successful, then there's nothing wrong with putting it on college apps. But, it shouldn't be your motivation for starting the org., which I think it isn't. The hard work you'll put in for this is not worth that one-liner in your college apps.</p>
<p>i started a non profit organization. To raise the money to begin a company sponsored us. I work about 6 hours a week on it, coordinating events, sending out newsletters, and I've just started to work on a webpage. In short, it's very do-able, you just have to find a lot of support within your friends and community.</p>
<p>Here's a few links that might be helpful: </p>
<p><a href="http://nonprofit.about.com/library/weekly/aa112702.htm%5B/url%5D">http://nonprofit.about.com/library/weekly/aa112702.htm</a><br>
<a href="http://www.mnaonline.org/starting.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.mnaonline.org/starting.asp</a></p>