How to start a nonprofit org

[Abby]

I may be asking the wrong question to the wrong group here, but does
anyone know the official way to establish a non-profit foundation in
the efforts to generate book donations and other outside assistance? I
want to begin a tutoring program by college students for area
elementary students (particularly 4th graders in danger zones to help
boost standardized test scores and help students move on to the fifth
grade) in the name of a late professor. He took it upon himself to buy
all the materials for this, but since I am a student without money, I
want to know how to generate the materials and expand the effort. Any
help anyone can give would be wonderful!
Thank you,
Abby
alro...@loyno.edu

[Putnam Barber]

There's a lot to the questions you ask.

In the Nonprofit FAQ at http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq you will find a
section called "startup" that offers a wide range of advice. Browsing there
may help you focus your inquiries to the parts of the problem that are most
important to your goals.

Based on what you have written, I'd start by looking into the idea of
linking up with an established charitable nonprofit (a "501(c)(3)" in the
technical jargon). You would want to find one that is willing to establish a
program with the goals you describe and to accept appropriate donations in
support of this work. The established organization would, of course, need
to be paid for the administrative chores: accepting the donations,
maintaining the financial records, acknowledging the donors (or, if you were
going to make sure that everyone got a prompt "thank you", then just
providing the "contemporaneous receipt" required for claiming a
tax-deduction for donations over $250), etc., as you and it agreed. You
could concentrate on seeking donors and overseeing the distribution of the
materials to the kids who use them.

What I've described above is often called "fiscal sponsorship." There are
fuller discussions of that idea in the FAQ, along with much else that you
will find __ useful, __ interesting, __ confusing, __ frustrating, __
complicated, __ challenging, __ peculiar, __ legalistic. __ helpful, __
inspiring, __ other [check as many as apply].

Putnam Barber, President
The Evergreen State Society
PO Box 20682
Seattle, WA 98102-0682
206 329-5640 :: pba...@tess.org

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