Are you socially conscious? Do you dream of making a difference in your community? Passionate about people or animal welfare? One of the easiest ways to live according to these values is to create a nonprofit organisation.
Setting up a nonprofit organisation is considerably easier than you might think. From setting up a mission statement to investing in not for profit insurance, following a few simple steps will have you making a difference in no time!
What Exactly is a Nonprofit?
As the name suggests, a nonprofit organisation is a company or entity created for purposes other than creating a profit. Commonly referred to as NPOs, a nonprofit organisation’s primary function is to benefit an aspect of society.
Some of the more common nonprofit organisations include:
- Animal welfare: This includes both daily care and ongoing research for domestic and wild animals
- Scientific research: Here the primary goal supports fundraising for cures and treatments of diseases and medical conditions
- Social welfare organisations: In this instance, funds are used to care for disadvantaged members of society such as the homeless
- Religious organisations: Many religious nonprofits are aimed at providing care for members within their local communities
- Public charities: Having a public charity means you can support a particular cause (such as cancer research) or several different ones
Simple Tips to Get Your Nonprofit Started
The good news is that it’s fairly simple to start such an organisation. You also don’t have to be a social activist to do it. Let’s take a look at the simplest ways to get your NPO up and running.
1. Create an Achievable Mission Statement
The first step in creating your NPO revolves around creating an effective mission statement. In short, it’s a statement that details how you want your organisation to operate. A genuine mission statement will also assist you with getting volunteers and donors to support your cause.
Ideally, your mission statement should follow a few standard guidelines:
- The statement should be brief, clear and simple to understand
- State your NPO’s cause in the first two sentences
- If your NPO evolves or changes direction, be sure to update your mission statement
2. Choose a Name and Create a Business Plan
It’s important to choose a memorable name that anyone can easily associate with your cause. For instance, an effective children’s NPO features words such as ‘children’, ‘kids’ or ‘babies’. An effective name for an animal NPO will have an animal-related word such as ‘claws’, ‘paws’ or ‘fur’.
A business plan is necessary because it will provide an understanding of how funds are expected to be raised and more importantly, how they will be distributed. Here you will consider the following factors:
- How much money will be allocated to the actual cause?
- Will there be marketing costs to advertise and promote the NPO?
- Many NPOs opt for employees rather than volunteers as that means you have a stable workforce you can count on for their time and effort – how much will this cost?
- As the owner/creator of the NPO, will you be drawing a salary?
3. Legally Create the Nonprofit
During this stage, you will complete the legal documents required by each state to officially create your NPO. Essentially, this involves setting up your legal structure and applying for the necessary tax-emption.
This stage also involves obtaining any relevant charity licenses and paying any required filing fees. It’s important to give this phase due consideration to ensure your NPO is legal.
4. Invest In a Credible Insurance Cover
Though it’s simple to start, there are some risks and costs involved in running a charity. For this reason, covers such as church insurance and nonprofit insurance have become more relevant.
A credible insurance policy should cover the following:
- Protection against injury or accidental loss of employees or volunteers
- Adequate protection of valuable resources such as stock, business cash or donated goods or funds
- Relevant protection of all aspects of fundraising programs
- Options to provide cyber liability to prevent theft or misappropriation of business, investor and donor data
5. Launch Your Nonprofit
When it’s time to launch your nonprofit, be sure to kick it off with an effective marketing plan. This is essentially how you will reach potential donors. One of the more effective ways of doing this is by creating a strong and interactive social media presence.
Using various social media platforms to promote your nonprofit is also a way to reduce or even eliminate a considerable chunk of advertising costs. At the same time, you’ll also be able to reach a lot more people.
Final Thought
Having a nonprofit is a credible way to make a social difference. By following the steps mentioned here, you’ll soon be raising the necessary funds or getting the support to change the world for the better!
