Chapter 1 Starting and Building A Non Profit, a Practical guide

Starting and Building a Non Profit a Practical Guide

Chapter 1

I have named my non-profit, We Help. It is part command center, part shelter for chronically ill people trying to escape their abusive families. We Help is a tentative name, but I could use a better name, maybe. I haven’t given it much thought yet because I, as of now, have limited income. My financial situation is what it is. But that may change soon because I’ve found jobs. I barely have a logo, but I have one stashed away on my USB drive I designed myself.

I found a WeHelpfirst.org but that deals more with the homeless. There are limited to no non- profits dealing with helping chronically ill people or otherwise, helping them escape Munchausen by Proxy families. My idea is fairly unique. Fictitious business name, FBN is not necessary, maybe, I’m not sure about that either. Domain name ideas are not necessary yet either, since I have limited finances, limited means and do not have income to speak of which, will soon change as I have been making efforts to find jobs. Business names are everything. I have to check my name against databases in other states according to my Nolo book.

                Incorporation is necessary in my case, due to how I want to spread this non-profit to every state. There is no such thing as an umbrella group because I’m not sure there is one at all. We Help will help those with have chronic illness or not, escape their abusive families. We need to be a non-profit with more than minimal assets since the goal is to help people escape their abusive families. Nolo suggests that incorporation is necessary to teach the public that we mean business, we are serious. This organization knows it has to buy some property or have other people buy property. I know that I need to keep track of donations, bylaws, keep minutes of board meetings, file annual reports, and tax returns as part of the duties of a non-profit President.  

                Taxes are only done if we have taxable income, which we will have. I want to have a dry club that is a non-profit donation earning type of business. Any fiscal sponsor is a charitable donation to the organization. Boy, I need a lawyer. If you make less than $1,000 you do not need to file the IRS form 990-T to report and pay income tax. Hell, I don’t even know if I can have voting members. I really need to talk to my SCORE mentor.