Starting a new organization is exciting and challenging. While it may be a natural extension of volunteer work you are already doing, managing the details of incorporation, writing your first proposal, and developing a board of directors may be something new to you. Fortunately there are resources designed specifically for organizations just getting started. The following are a list of “greatest hits” to help you understand what is involved.
From Vision to Reality, A Guide to Launching a Successful Nonprofit Organization (also available in Spanish). Through worksheets, model documents and plain language explanations, this handbook will guide you on how to design an effective program, create a budget, raise money, form a board of directors, hire staff and take all the steps you need to launch a successful nonprofit. Price: $30 plus shipping.
Two of the most important chapters to start up organizations are available online to download at no charge: “Getting Started” & “Fundraising”. Both of these chapters are also available online in Spanish. “Getting Started” describes how to obtain your 501c3 status and walks trough the process of designing programs. The “Fundraising” chapter describes how to develop a strong case statement for your work, determine the best ways to fund your work, write your first proposal, and formulate a fundraising plan.
Additional fundraising resources:
The Foundation Center provides web based and on-site assistance to help organizations identify prospective funding sources. They also provide workshops on proposal writing and news and research on the field of philanthropy.
The Grassroots Fundraising Journal is published every other month and provides much-needed information on how to build successful organizations. Each issue offers practical, how-to instruction on fundraising strategies such as direct mail, special events, major gift campaigns, and online fundraising.
NonProfit Connection has written a guide for organizations with no fundraising staff.
Board of Directors:
The Grassroots Fundraising Journal provides articles on how to develop an effective board that is willing and able to raise money. Topics include running effective meetings, recruiting better board members, getting the board to raise money, and more. These articles are great to include in board orientation packets.
The Nonprofit Assistance Program for Nonprofits in St. Paul, Minnesota, provides information on the roles of the nonprofit board, critical documents, board staff relations, successful committees, evaluating a board’s performance, and links to other related resources.
The Support Center for Nonprofit Management’s book,
Maximizing Your Board's Effectiveness is based upon years of work with nonprofit boards, and provides resources and suggestions for: how a board and staff can be carriers of the agency's mission and vision and hold each other accountable; what are the most appropriate roles and responsibilities for the board and staff at this time in the agency's life cycle; how a board and executive director can foster a productive and supportive working relationship; and how the board can be action oriented and externally focused. $10
Nonprofit Management: Free, fast and practical these online
Frequently Asked Questions were written by leading experts from around the country on topics such as fiscal management, fundraising, board development and many more.
The Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York (NPCC) informs and connects nonprofit leaders, saves nonprofits money, and strengthens the nonprofit sector’s relations with government. NPCC has created a
compliance checklist part 1 and
part 2 to help nonprofit leaders keep up with new management and governance guidelines. To make sense of it all, NPCC offers a “checklist” of requirements. For each, they provide a direct link to sample forms that can be copied and modified to suit your organization.
