In the Thick of It! Advice on starting your own non-profit from someone who’s in the muck

By Gregory Foster | November 22, 2009

Convened By:

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http://lightscamerahelp.org/
On Facebook
In the process of filing as a 501(c)3.
Raising $750 for status.
$300 charge if you’ll have an operational budget of $10,000 during the next 5 years.
Careful not to handcuff yourself if your budget is projected to be higher; there can be a charge.
David Neff [ @daveiam ] had the idea for a health-issues film festival; expanded scope to NPO film festival.
Wound up with 140 submissions.
5000 followers on Twitter.
Submission criteria was purposefully left very broad to encourage submissions. Considering building out categories in the future.

Define your organization’s scope from the beginning.
Be as specific as possible BEFORE bringing on collborators because the scope and mission of the organization will change as collaborators come on board.
Cultivate changes that increase the health and sustainability of your organization.

Look for the unique trait that makes your idea useful
Board size: small and nimble is important when starting because one conflicting voice can derail the entire process. As org grows larger, it becomes more important to move more slowly and methodically. 9-10 is an optimal median size.

Social media for getting the word out. Reach out to individuals and organizations to explain mission. Get the word out but also charge forward.
Don’t get stuck in the muck: enable growth by keeping your vision broad and ambitious.
Ensure that your supporters who can’t show up can still support you – put a donate button on the site.
Southwest Key. Between Airport and 183 north of Bolm, on Jane Lane. A free space for NPOs to use.
UT. Stipulations: money cannot change hands at UT. Event has to be sponsored by a student organization.
The New Movement Theater. Worked with them to donate time to use their space; held their after party there.
Texas C-BAR. Used to get their 501(c)3 status. They hook people up with lawyers who will work pro-bono. Helped find lawyer to help file their 1023 form, which is great experience to have.
- Another attendee [ Robyn Hembree ] had help finding a student group of UT Law students to help perform an audit for the organization; very happy with their help, very professional. Was connected with the curriculum of the school, so beneficial for the students to perform non-profit audits.
- Contact: Frances Leos Martinez, Texas C-BAR [ FLeosMartinez @t trla d.t org ]
Worked with UT students as PR interns: for data entry, media pitches.
- Dave Junker, professor – service learning project every year. PR348 class. Student groups go out and work for non-profits. Contact PR department. Class credit.

After initial efforts are successful, target becoming a leader.
Look up @AaronMSB’s blog post on correlation between tribal leaders and NPO leadership.
You’re not networking, your finding a person/group that can perform some task/work/benefit for another organization, and introducing them. You’re building the ecosystem.
But you cannot forget your roots, and you must continue refining and working to stay on top.

Greenlights for Non-Profits.
- First tried their template by-laws; attorneys said ok. But…
How To Form a Non-Profit Corporation by NoLo Press. Comes with CD with by-laws.
- …indicated the template by-laws were inadequate.
- Do it yourself, because you’re going to have to know everything that’s in there.
- The UT student audit for Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC), revealed the same sorts of problems: e.g.: “you need more of this kind of information here.”