OK, I have an idea for a charity/non-profit organization but don’t have the faintest clue how to implement it. So, I am depending on the vast, collective knowledge and magnaminity of the SDMB. Here’s the problem I want to address:
I was watching National Geographic this weekend and it was a program about mothers in prisons and their children. I don’t have a cite but it said, “A child who has a parent in prison is 50% more likely to be incarcerated him/herself.” And this website says
Regardless of whether you think that prison should be a place of rehabilitation or punishment, it seems obvious that a potent step in lowering the prison population would be to target children of inmates. I want to help break this cycle that by all accounts is growing larger and larger.
My solution: a scholarship program for kids whose parents are (or have been) incarcerated. I’m a teacher and I can’t help but believe that education is the key here. I want to give kids and incentive and a hope to do better. So many kids I see in class do poorly because (among other things) they know their parents can’t afford to send them to college. They also don’t get the support and encouragement they need to reach that goal even if they have it. So, I’m thinking: get kids involved in a program wherein they stay out of trouble, make good enough grades to get accepted to college or trade school and (through an endowment created from grants from business) the organization would cover the costs not covered my any scholarships they might receive. So, they would have to [ul] [li] have a parent currently in or recently recently from jail[/li][li]stay out of trouble themselves[/li][li]make good grades[/li][/ul]
and we would [ul] [li]provide mentoring and tutoring to help reach their goals[/li][li] provide scholarships for them[/li][/ul]
So, tell me what’s wrong with this plan so I can fix it. Also, how do you get organizations to give you money to start something like this? And, do you get the money first or the participants first? Which is the cart and which is the horse? How do I make this dog hunt?
Hm, very interesting question, and definitely a worthy cause.
I know this is GQ, but I think there’s no hard and fast answer and you’re really asking for opinions, so here I go:
The best way for you to do this may or may not be for you to start your own charity. Maybe there’s a place in your town that does something similar that you could volunteer at.
In order to do this yourself, I’d think the very minimum you’d need would be:
Enough money to support your family for quite a long time (a couple years, at least). Once the organization is up and running you can probably pay yourself a salary, but that’s going to take a while.
A background in running something (your own business, a large division of a company, etc.).
Volunteers who know things about education, etc., to serve as teachers/tutors. Other volunteers to do administrative things, raise money, etc.
Some contacts in the community (read: rich people) who are willing to give money to a start-up charity. I’d bet lots of people are reluctant to give money to a charity until it’s up and running (to insure that the money actually goes to the beneficiaries and not to leasing space and such).
Good advice on how to organize the legal entity to run the charity. Should be some lawyers you can call in your town that have already committed to providing free services to charities; call your local bar association.
On your specific question (money or participants first): i would think you need money first because if you don’t, how will you get participants (i.e., you won’t be able to promise scholarships if you can’t deliver yet), and what will you do with them once you get them (i.e., they’ll need a space to do tutoring (that has furniture, electricity, water, etc.–other things that cost money), materials, volunteers or paid tutors, etc.). The bitch of this is that the first few donors essentially have to trust that you really will do what you say you’re going to do; there may be some ways to make you more trustworthy on this, e.g., make the gift conditional on you doing certain things by certain times, get the money insured against you stealing it, etc.
OK, lunch is over, back to work. I hope something in the above ramble is useful to you. Good luck!
You can, of course, simply start the organization yourself – ask people to donate and then give the money. There’s nothing to you need to do other than pass the hat.
However, you’d be at a disadvantage because donations wouldn’t be tax-deductible, and you’d have to make sure the IRS doesn’t consider the money donated to you as income. Your best best would be to consult a lawyer that handles this sort of thing (your local United Way may have suggestions). You’ll need a tax-exempt letter; plus you’d have to fill out the IRS form 990 each year.
Your best bet at this point is to contact your local community foundation and ask for advice. They’ll direct you to literature on how to start this up, and possibly give you contacts of other organizations in related fields.
My first impression is that you’re going to be battling straight uphill for a long time. A long time. I think the first concrete thing you’re going to need is a scholarship. Since most scholarships are endowed money that pays out of its interest, you’re going to need a LOT of money upfront. Your best bet would be to find an existing scholarship with a living creator (most scholarships are memorials), and convince them to change the mission of the scholarship. Some scholarships are administered by a small board in the case where the originating donor is deceased. You may be able to convince that board to change its mission, as long as its close to yours.
Also, as much as I hate to suggest it, contact your local United Way. They’ll be able to get you in contact with the Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA and YWCA in your area, possibly a Girls, Inc. and other organizations that work with at-risk children. They’ll be very informed of support resources that may be able to help you out.
But without any initial capital, and without contacts, I wish you a big pile of luck.
There are exisiting organizations such as the Amachi Program and the Angel Tree Foundation that are already working on these issues. You might wish to contact them or one of the other groups mentioned below.
Coincidentally, I was just checking this out last night. I was weighing the options of changing my for profit company to a non-profit company. This is what I found out. I think it will help you get started.
What you are seeking is called a 501C Corporation, for tax reasons. All non-profits organizations fall under this 501C code.
Whenever you start a company, any kind of company, the best starting point is the taxes, because that is where you declare the actual formation of your company. Type “501C” into Google for more information.
The typical form to use to begin the founding of a company is a form called XX-100, where XX is the state’s abbreviation where it will be located. For instance, I’m in Pittsburgh, so the form I used was a PA-100 form. This form is where you declare yourself to be a non-profit organization. I would download that form from your state’s website and read it over. You should take a day vacation, because it can be in excess to 20 pages long. Don’t fill anything out on the form, just get a taste for what will be expected of your 501C Corporation.
So, 501C equals Non-Profit. But what is Non-Profit, exactly? The 501C gets divided further down depending on exactly what you will be doing. Is it strictly charity? Is it social work? Is it connected to a branch of your local government? This is all a learning process, and you will learn quickly, via these forms, on how the non-profit will have to be run.
Bottom line:
The benefits of having a non-profit organization is that you would get some extreme tax breaks, maybe not have to pay taxes at all. Your payroll would easy as pie. And there are virtually no barriers to how you can accept donations.
The downside is that you have to be damn anal about paperwork and account for every single penny. This all has to be documented and submitted to the different levels of government at regular intervals.