Advice for starting a non-profit organization for new mothers?

I am seriously interested in starting a non-profit organization for new mothers/fathers and I am not sure how to go about doing it. I basically want to have a website (and eventually a store if the site picks up) where new mothers/fathers can get diapers, clothes, food, parenting books, etc for no cost. I want to make it legit and legal. Does anyone have any tips on how to go about starting it and the legality issues as well. Thank you so much!Advice for starting a non-profit organization for new mothers?
Yes. It's a lot of work :P





First, find out about non-profits in your area, and make sure noone is serving this need yet. What you will most likely find, if anything is available, will be a baby pantry (in our area, this operates just like a food pantry, but provides baby items). If you have one in your area, you'll have a huge head start--work with them to expand into the areas you're interested in, such as the website.





If you do not have such an organization in your area, then your next best option is to find an already-established non profit organization that would like to expand into serving new parents. What you will probably be looking for will be an organization that already does several things--a food pantry with no other projects may be interested in expanding to cover babies, as well, but a larger organization that already sponsored four or five established activities will most likely already have the infrastructure in place to help you do what you're wanting to do.





To establish your own, separate nonprofit is a lot of legal paperwork that varies from state to state depending on tax laws and such. In our state, you have to have a board of directors, turn in quarterly tax reports, and a lot of other paperwork issues that I have not personally done yet :D I did spend a year as a VISTA, and am currently working with a few friends to establish a community theatre, which I hope will someday be an official nonprofit.





If you are not employed or could take a year off from work, Americorps VISTA is an excellent program that could help you out. It is a federal program that will train you to do things that would be helpful to your endeavor, such as grant writing and resource building. If you can't become a VISTA yourself (Volunteers In Service To America), then perhaps you could locate a VISTA who would be willing to assist you with your project.





Good Luck!!Advice for starting a non-profit organization for new mothers?
Before you file any paperwork, you need to get a very impassioned group of people together who support your idea and will provide some start up funding and serve on the board of directors, you need to get letters of endorsement from existing organizations saying this program is needed, you need to have data that shows your target group is in need whatever service it is that you want to provide and that they are not served otherwise, you need to have profiles of your staff showing they have experience and expertise, and you need to have a draft of what your first year's budget would look like (what expenses you expect to incur, what you expect to pay staff, etc.)





I'm assuming you mean in the USA





Starting a Nonprofit Organization


http://www.managementhelp.org/strt_org/s鈥?/a> (one of my favorite resources)





Starting a Non-Profit


Checklist- The Things You Must Do to Start a Nonprofit Organization


http://www.ctnonprofits.org/pages/NonPro鈥?/a>





Starting a Nonprofit Organization - How to Start a Nonprofit http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitb鈥?/a>





How to Start a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization


http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-501c3-Non鈥?/a>
Let me congratulate you for your project and i wish you all success !.


Nonprofit incorporation is very similar to creating a regular corporation except that a nonprofit must take the extra steps of applying for tax-exempt status with the state in which it incorporates and with the IRS.


The following steps should be taken :-


Select a name that is legally available in your state.


File your ';articles of incorporation,'; and pay a filing fee.


Apply for federal and state tax exemptions.


Create bylaws that will dictate how the corporation is run.


Appoint an initial board of directors.


Hold the first meeting of the board of directors


Apply for any licenses or permits that your corporation will need to operate in your state and local municipality.


In order to qualify for tax-exempt (501c3) status , you should create a concept paper and document your ideas with the structure for the organization you propose and you must share your concept with like minded persons and involve them as initial founders.





Next step would be to contact an attorney to assist you in preparing incorporation filings in your state. After your organization in incorporated, obtain an employer ID number, and apply for 501c3 tax-exempt status with the IRS.





Your funding requirements will depend on various factors , for which you have to prepare a plan which will be of use to you in approaching potential funding sources .
Follow these steps,





1. Register the organization as a non-profit in your state. You could do that through www.legalzoom.com but if you call your state department of commerce, you might be able to do it for a lot less than you would be charged by legal zoom. Legal zoom is easier and more convenient.





2. Register a domain name and purchase webhosting. You could do that for free through microsoft's office ';live for small business'; service. You might not even need to pay a website designer because this microsoft service has a very user-friendly design tool.





3. Promote your non-profit organization. You could apply for a grant from philantrophic organizations like the rockefeller Foundation, Ford foundation or the world bank.





4. Remember to file taxes for the organization every year to keep it legal.





Hope this helps.
V.T.R.A and Jane Reads more books are correct. First you do need to set up a B.O.D. (Board of Directors) which is what Jane is telling you to do. I am a co-founder of a non profit organization called SOFTIN (http://www.seafaringopportunities.org) We went through the Foundation Group who helped us from setting up the articles of incorporation, getting our state approval and all the way down to filing and all dealings with the IRS to establish our 501c3 status. I suggest you go through them. They have a 100 percent success rate on establishing NPO's. (non profit organizations). They can help you with all your legal issues, answer any questions and expedite things a lot quicker. Here's their web site:





http://www.501c3.org





Funding is going to be a problem obtaining through donations until you are a 501c3 status. You can't tell corporations or businesses that your a non profit until you obtain that status through the IRS. There are other funding procedures that you can do to obtain sufficient funding for your non profit to start and be able to carry it through to support your non profit organization. It's a major funding resource for non profits. If you'd like information on that, your more then welcome to email me at tvague@seafaringopportunities.org