Danielle had reached a jumping-off point in her musings about her interest in starting a charitable organization. She either had to go for it or give it up. She wasn’t sure what made her feel that way. Maybe it was because she’d been thinking about helping the poor for a long time, indeed since she was a child. And now, she was a long way from childhood. Danielle had just turned the page on yet another decade of living, which was another reason she felt as if she had to either start doing something or stop thinking about it. But she also found that other things she had been doing were no longer holding much meaning for her. She felt as if she was spinning wheels, not going anywhere. Maybe now was the time to finally start on her charity dream. Yet she wanted a clear way to decide. She might have better options. And for that answer, she needed a reliable guide.

Dreams

We all have dreams. We all have hopes and ambitions. If you don’t remember yours right at the moment, trust that they’re deep down inside of you, somewhere. A life without a dream is a life without a goal, purpose, or vision. As the saying goes, when the end of all things approaches, young men see visions, and old men dream dreams. We may live just fine day to day, doing our mundane chores. But when we look to the end of our days, we remember the visions and dreams deep within us. We are not passing through this world without purpose. We each have purposes that must unfold from within us, or we will have squelched and lost our life. That realization is what seems to spur many people who start 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. For you to know whether you, too, should do so, you may need to take stock of your dreams and visions, and your purpose, stage, and station in life.

Readiness

Don’t feel as if you’ve been wasting time, frittering away your calling to pursue your charitable purpose. What’s past is past. Chances are good that the mundane or meaningful things you’ve already been doing have been preparing you for your charitable mission. Children don’t generally start 501(c)(3) organizations. They still have a lot of growing up to do. Few teenagers start charitable organizations, either. They still have a lot of maturing and knowledge-and-skill building to do. If you’re already through college and maybe also through your twenties or even your thirties or forties, you’ve surely been gaining additional knowledge, skill, and experience, and building stronger character, that will help you pursue your charitable dream now. But wherever you are in life, take stock of your readiness. Would a little more maturing and experience help you, before you start? If so, then it’s okay to wait until the time is ripe. Or are you instead ready to launch? Consider what is true for you.

Capacity

A related question has to do with your capacity to start a 501(c)(3) organization. Do you have enough extra time, energy, and attention? It’s okay to start something new when you are relatively weak, because having a new project may vitalize you and make you stronger. It’s also okay to start something new when a family, household duties, job, career, health conditions, or other responsibilities already have you occupied. You may need some balance in your life. It may be better for you and everyone who already depends on you, if you had a new little project all to yourself, like starting a 501(c)(3) organization. I’ve helped businessmen, tradesmen, nurses, teachers, homemakers, pastors, college students, and others occupied full time, start 501(c)(3) organizations. What’s yet another iron in the fire? I’ve even helped newly quadriplegic clients, unable to use their arms or legs, start 501(c)(3) organizations, if you can imagine their challenge. But I’ve also had clients struggle to start their new 501(c)(3) organizations because they had too many greater challenges already fully occupying them. Beware of your capacity. Don’t take on too much.

Structure

So, you’ve had a moment for introspection on whether you should pursue your charitable-organization dream. Now, consider a few things outside of yourself that could be important to whether and how you should proceed. Individuals who start 501(c)(3) organizations generally do so because they need structure to support their charitable dream. After all, plenty of individuals do charitable work just fine without any organizational structure. Go buy some food at the grocery store, and deliver it to the soup kitchen. Or go to the soup kitchen to volunteer to make and serve meals. Or write a check to the soup kitchen as a donation. Or take your elderly homebound neighbor out for a pleasant drive. You can do a lot of charitable service without starting your own 501(c)(3) organization. If you don’t need an organization’s identity, hierarchy, tax-exempt advantage, accounts, personnel, and other resources, then just go live out your charitable dream without a 501(c)(3) organization.

Administration

That point leads to a related issue to consider: 501(c)(3) organizations take some administration. They take some leadership and management, when those things take some time, trouble, expense, and effort. One of the advantages of a 501(c)(3) organization is that it can be relatively straightforward and simple to operate. But it’s not that simple. After all, you’re reading a book about it. And the time you put into starting, tax-exempt qualifying, and otherwise administering your 501(c)(3) organization is time lost for your direct individual charitable service. In other words, you may be better off spending your time helping people rather than spending time administering an organization, ostensibly to help people. Be careful about thinking that you’re helping people simply by creating a 501(c)(3) organization. You’re not. You’ve got to get the organization up and running, carrying out its charitable purpose, before you’ve helped anyone. Don’t create a 501(c)(3) organization just to keep yourself busy. Instead, go help someone. Create a 501(c)(3) organization only if it will help you and others alongside you, help others.

Partnering

That point about 501(c)(3) administrative costs brings us to the next point: before you start your own 501(c)(3) organization, consider partnering with an already established organization. You may not need your own 501(c)(3) organization, and the modest administrative burden that comes with it, if you can work with an existing organization. If you want to be more than just another volunteer for an existing charity, because you have special plans and designs, then consider proposing to lead a new program for an existing charity, a program that, in practice if not in name, you can call your own. Larger charitable organizations may have multiple programs, each with their own director, accounts, personnel, and resources, and even with their own advisory board. You’d have to find a willing charity. You’d also have to be sure that they would allow you enough liberty to carry out your dreams. And you’d have to defer to the charity’s governing board and executive director on all issues they insist on controlling. But partnering could be a good time-saving option.

Waste

Consider another caution about starting a 501(c)(3) organization. I’ve helped several clients start 501(c)(3) organizations, when in retrospect doing so turned out mostly to be a waste of time. Those clients may have gained other things from the administrative exercise. They may have learned important things about law, organization, procedures, and planning. They may have learned that they are capable of more than they thought. But in the end, their 501(c)(3) organizations went nowhere. They didn’t accomplish any charitable service for any needful person or population. In some cases, the clients dropped the ball, let go of the reins, got distracted, and just didn’t follow through. In other cases, they did everything they should have done, crossing the starting line with a fully tax-exempt new 501(c)(3) organization, only to see things not work out. Maybe they had the wrong dream. Maybe they followed someone else’s call rather than their own. But they may have wasted a good bit of time and effort better reserved for something else. As much as you can, be sure that’s not you.

Resources

Don’t let your lack of resources, though, discourage you from starting your charitable organization. Acquiring resources is a large part of why passionate individuals with a charitable dream form 501(c)(3) organizations. You may not have the money you need to pursue and amplify your charitable service. A new 501(c)(3) organization may attract the donations you need. You may not have the physical location for a charitable mission. The new 501(c)(3) organization may qualify you for free or low-rent space. You may not have friends or family members who share your charitable interest and are willing to help you. The new 501(c)(3) organization may attract new volunteers and enable you to hire paid staff. I’ve had penniless clients, even homeless clients form new charitable organizations. You don’t necessarily need your own ready resources. Others may well be around to help, attracted to you through your passionate charitable interests.

Risk

In the final analysis of whether now is the time for you to start your own 501(c)(3) organization, you might just ask what do you have to lose? The time and effort that you put into forming your 501(c)(3) organization may not be that substantial. The process of forming your 501(c)(3) organization may itself tell you whether now is the right time to keep going. You can always start... and stop, if you find that you don’t have the skill, time, energy, or interest, if you learn something in the process that tells you it’s the wrong time or activity, or if it just no longer feels right to you. If you follow all the way through to the point of getting a 501(c)(3) organization formed and recognized as tax exempt, and only then decide not to begin with charitable service, you can just put your organization and plans on the shelf for another time. In the process, you will have secured your organization’s name, put in place the initial structure, and prepared yourself to jump in at a later time if and when you are ready. If that’s what happens, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, pat yourself on the back, and go back to doing what you were doing, or find a different new project. The world of charitable service will go on without you, one hopes without too badly missing what you might have been able to do.

Key Points

• Know your dream and vision for a 501(c)(3) organization.

• Be sure you are ready with mature knowledge, skill, and character.

• Be sure you have the space, time, and energy in your life.

• Ask if you really need the structure of an organization.

• Consider working with an existing 501(c)(3) to save administration.

• Don’t waste your time on a 501(c)(3) unless you really need one.

• Forming your organization may help you decide if the time is right.

Read Chapter 3.