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Start your own nonprofit in 7 steps | Nonprofit Startup - YouTube
Channel: Ashlee Tate
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Highlanders today I'm going to be
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talking to you about how to start your
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own nonprofit so if you've got a big
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idea and you know that you think it can
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change the world and you want to dive
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into the nonprofit sector today I'm
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going to give you seven tips on how to
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do that efficiently and quickly so that
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you don't have to go searching around
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trying to figure out exactly how to get
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through this legal process so I will say
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I am NOT a lawyer and I cannot advise
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you on how to go through the legal
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process but I do have some resources
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that I'd like to share with you and a
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process that I took just to share that
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process with you so that you can see
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that the process isn't as daunting as it
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may seem because it is it is like
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starting a business but because and you
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are dealing directly with the IRS and it
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is a 501 sore you trying to get your
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501c3 status you have to make sure that
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you do everything correctly and you know
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dot your i's cross your T's make sure
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you have all of that done so today
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that's what we're going to be talking
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about so let's jump right in
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so the first thing you want to do when
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you're starting a nonprofit is you want
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to think about your name your mission
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your vision things that you have
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probably already started dreaming up and
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thinking about and your processes things
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like that you want to think about the
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services you'll be providing to your
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demographic and one of the most
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important things that you're going to
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want to work on is whether you're a
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membership organization or non
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membership organization because there
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will be a bifurcation at some point
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during the process that will you'll have
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to decide whether you're a membership or
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non membership and it will it'll depend
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on some of the forms that you fill out
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so because we are a non membership-based
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nonprofit that's what I'll be talking
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about today and that process first thing
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is you need to get your name that's
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number one your name obviously is very
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important you may have already thought
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of a name but now you need to make sure
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that that name is available so the way
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to do that is you're going to check at
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irs.gov and you're going to go to their
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search tool they have a name search tool
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once you do that you're going to put in
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your name they're going to send you
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you're going to need to reserve that
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name first and then that name isn't
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yours it's just reserved so that means
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that we're going to send you an inquiry
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letter back once you get that inquiry
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letter and you publish that name and you
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let them know that it's published that
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means that your name has been reserved
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and that means that now it is officially
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your name and they will send you a
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letter to let you know that whole
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process and they'll tell you all of that
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on irs.gov what the actual process is
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but until they say that the name is
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actually yours that name is only
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reserved and then once you receive the
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final confirmation on that name you will
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need to publish that in three different
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papers so what I did is I just published
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it in three different counties and then
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that makes it official and essentially
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that saying I'm starting this business
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this is officially my name it has been
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published under my name
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associated with my business so that's
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what you'll need to do and I think that
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probably costs about it's probably about
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twenty-five dollars I think per per
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paper to publish it and basically that's
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just proof that you are actually using
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the name for a business so that's your
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first step your second step is your
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Articles of Incorporation so your
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articles articles of incorporation may
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seem a little daunting but really it's
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actually a very simple process if you
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pick up the null resource book on how to
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start a non-profit that is a it's
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written by a lawyer
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and it's a resource that will actually
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walk you through the entire process step
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by step and I do recommend getting that
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for any nonprofits that are getting
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started because it will save on time as
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far as using a lawyer and then on top of
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that will also save on you making these
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sort of mistakes because it walks you
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through step by step so when you're
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doing your articles of incorporation the
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first thing I would say is before you
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start your article that's Articles of
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Incorporation or at least before you
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send them in you're going to want to
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create your bylaws first and even though
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that's not my second step this is
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something that I would actually just
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recommend to you because once you finish
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the Articles of Incorporation you that
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process goes a lot quicker than then
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than you think so or it can go a lot
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faster you don't want your bylaws to be
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what slows you down so I will get there
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in just a minute but basically you're
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going to want to do your articles of
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incorporation and this is essentially
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the same thing for everyone so even
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though it seems like there's a lot to do
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it's really just nine articles that
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you're taking and you're inputting your
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information but they give you
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essentially the word-for-word that you
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need to use for each and each article so
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that makes it pretty simple for you to
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do so you're going to do that now when
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you send in your articles of
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incorporation you're going to need to
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send in your cover letter as well and
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that cover letter is $30
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then you're going to need to get that
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certified copy back so if you send it in
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and you don't you don't use the cover
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letter and you don't use the the request
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certified copy you'll need that
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certified copy later in the process so
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you need to make sure you do that so
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it's it's it's $35 and and it's $5 for
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the copy $30 to actually send it in and
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have it filed and everything you just
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need to make sure you have that cover
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letter which is also in the nola
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resource book and essentially it's a
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plug in situation where you just plug in
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your name and plug in your services and
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all of your own personal information
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print that up add it to your articles of
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incorporation and send that in I believe
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you submit it to the secretary of state
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so that takes they say it takes about
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two to four weeks I received mine back
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in two weeks and the process went pretty
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quickly for me so so that's Articles of
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Incorporation that's step number two you
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need to make sure that before you
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actually send that in that you start
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your bylaws first and and your you'll
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want to at least start to tackle your
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tax exemption
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10:23 easy form which will be probably
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the most tedious part of the whole
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process so that's step number two so for
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step number three you're going to start
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working on your bylaws and I will not
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lie to you the bylaws are time-consuming
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I won't say they're hard they're not
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necessarily difficult it's just time
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consuming and this is really where
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you'll see your whole organization
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really come together as a non-profit and
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it'll start to be outlined because
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they'll be asking you about who's on
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your board and you'll need all their
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information so you'll need to have your
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board developed already you'll need to
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know your purpose which is generally
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your services and your mission what are
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you trying to do
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organization and then you'll need to
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know the type of corporation that you're
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going to be and you'll know that from
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you know when you incorporate know that
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you'll know what type of corporation you
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want to be and then you'll need to have
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regular meetings scheduled and also your
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annual meeting schedule so how often are
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you going to meet when are those meeting
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dates going to be and this is a rough
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outline obviously if things don't work
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out and you look like we use the second
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Tuesday of every month but sometimes we
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have to move those around according to
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the board schedule but they need to know
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that you have a regular meeting schedule
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so if you're going to do quarterly
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meetings you're going to do weekly
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meetings monthly meetings yearly
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meetings however often you're going to
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be meeting for your board you'll need to
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have all of that figured out so that you
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can add all that information into your
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bylaws and then I'm your annual meeting
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date when are you going to meet once per
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year and then you'll also need to figure
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out your fiscal or calendar are you
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fiscal or calendar you're scheduling so
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what kind of calendar year are you going
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to be on the school or a calendar year
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so and then lastly and you have probably
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already decided this are you going to be
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membership or non membership because the
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bylaws is where the bifurcation comes
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from so they'll have different types of
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bylaws that you'll need to fill out if
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you're a membership-based nonprofit as
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opposed to a non membership-based
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nonprofit and I believe the non
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membership is a little bit easier but if
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people are going to be paying into a
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membership to be part of your nonprofit
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or you're going to have a membership
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base and you need to obviously use the
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membership side of the bylaws so those
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are really the the bulk of the
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information that you would need for your
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bylaws but really this is just a time
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words it's a it's a kind of tedious
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process and and you just need to be more
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meticulous about what you're writing and
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what you're saying because once your
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bylaws are created it will take the
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board's decision and the board vote to
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change those bylaws which is why most
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bylaws aren't generally changed in
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organizations because that's what
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they've been running off of for the last
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however many years
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been around so so this is kind of a big
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deal it will take some thought which is
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why I said to complete this or at least
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be starting this process before you do
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your articles of incorporation before
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you send them in the Articles of
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Incorporation will actually be pretty
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simple but your bylaws are going to take
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a lot more time once you complete your
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bylaws that would be the end of step
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three now step four is your EIN number
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and you'll be using this number your
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employee identification number you'll be
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using that number for quite a few things
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so when you fill out information when
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you're applying for grants when you're
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when you're just doing things that
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involve your nonprofit they will ask you
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for this e is oh your tax exempt number
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so these are two numbers that you'll
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need to keep you know track of and know
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where they are and you'll need easy
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reference to them so this is probably
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one of the simplest steps out of the
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whole thing you're just basically going
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to go to IRS gov you are going to look
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up the SS - four form online and you're
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going to fill that out and the big thing
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is with all of these things you're going
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to need to print them out and make a
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copy for yourself so that you can have
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them in your corporate records book so
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um that's one of the things that you'll
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need throughout this whole process
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you'll need a corporate records book
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where you can just keep all of this
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information just keep it filed and and
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make it so that you have easy reference
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to it so that if someone else were to
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come in and take over your organization
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they would know what all this
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information is that they would need to
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keep referring to and it's very
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important that you have a corporate
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records book just so that you have
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access to all of these important
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documents and it's also a requirement of
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the IRS as well so you'll need to set
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that up so you're just going to make
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sure that you fill out this form make
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sure you print it out and and then keep
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it in your corporate records book and it
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is absolutely immediately like it's an
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immediate response you fill out the form
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you press submit and then they give you
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an EIN number that's the form you need
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to fill out I mean print out and sorry
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you just print that form out put in your
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purple records book and then you're done
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with that section step five is the 10:23
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easy
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and this is where most people can really
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mess up or delay the process of becoming
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a tax exemption tax-exempt status this
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is where you have to pay the most
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attention and you have to really have a
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lot of attention to detail so it's just
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a tedious form it's a long form after
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you complete your bylaws this form has
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to be turned in within twenty seven
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months that may seem like a long time
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but when you're in the midst of running
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your nonprofit and you have to fill this
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form out I would recommend that it's
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just better just to do the whole process
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all at once which is why I say before
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you send in your your bylaws or your
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Articles of Incorporation before you
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start the whole process you'll want to
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just send this whole thing in and get it
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done just do it all at one time take two
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days and finish the entire thing because
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this - 23 will take some time and some
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just focus that's really all it comes
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down to you'll just need to focus on it
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and you'll need to know that it's going
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to be tedious and that you're gonna have
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to pay attention and I would just plan
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to not do anything else for like that
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four-hour block of the day and just get
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that done so that you can send it in and
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then it's out of your hair and you don't
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remember within 27 months to send this
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in but if your organization is not
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completely set up and ready to rock and
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then you do have 27 months to do that so
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that's step so now we'll move on to step
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number six which is creating a packet
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for the IRS for you to send in and then
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they will look over it and that's how
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you'll receive your tax exempt status so
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in this packet you're going to have a
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certified copy of your articles of
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incorporation
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you're going to have signatures from
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your board you're going to have your
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bylaws and then you're going to have
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copies for yourself of all these things
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because you may not get these back and
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then you're going to fill out a
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checklist that comes with and that goes
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with this form once you send in I
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believe this comes with the 10:23 easy
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but you'll need to make sure that you
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have this checklist for the very front
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of this whole packet
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and then add it to the front and then
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send it in so they say it could take up
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to I think they said it could take up to
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I want to say like maybe eight months or
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something I had it seem like it was
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going to take a long time but I actually
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received my back in three months I sent
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it in in March and I think I got back in
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June or July and then once I received it
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back it said that my tax-exempt status
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was actually retroactive for a year so
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I'm sorry retroactively from the start
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of the year so from January so I don't
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know if that's how it works but it was
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retroactive to the first of the year so
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that meant that all of the income that I
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received from that that time any
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donations or anything that came in from
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that time period from January to June
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would be considered tax exempt under my
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tax-exempt status so um I wouldn't
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depend on that but just be aware that
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that is a possibility and that's how my
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process worked for me the last thing is
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you're going to receive your federal tax
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exemption woohoo
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and they're going to send you a letter
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and basically you need to make sure on
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that letter that it does call you a
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non-profit and not a foundation um you
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just need to make sure that's clear and
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then they're going to let you know
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whether you need to fill out a 990 easy
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form every year and basically you'll
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fill it out online they'll receive
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Gilson they'll send you a postcard
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and then um then you'll be filling one
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out every year or two they're on for
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your for your nonprofit so that's
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essentially the whole process on how I
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started my nonprofit and how you can
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start yours too the main resource that I
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would say is most important is the no
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low resource and I will make sure
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I've gotten the link below and if this
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video did help you please be sure to
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LIKE and subscribe to our channel and
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remember there is no limit to your spark
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so get out there and create something
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amazing thank you so much for watching
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and I will talk to you next week
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