What do you do when you are a non-profit with no grant money to get things you need? Simply because you do not know how to write grants. Where do you get the local patrons and businesses involved, and how do you spark the help?
 
                                                                          Terry in Parkersburg
 
Dear Terry,
 
    The best way to start off any business, organization, or even website that is non-profit is Advertisement.  By advertising you are "selling" yourself so-to-speak and showing the world what your foundation has to offer.  Try taking different approaches of this by going to different businesses and asking them if they would like to help and donate money or construction materials needed to get the business started up.
 
    Also, a non-profit lawyer is great to have.  A lawyer can help guide and give advice on situations as well as take care of any tax problems such as tax exemption and deductables.  There are several non-profit lawyers available that work in this field alone.
 
    When starting a new organization there are a few things you should keep in mind: 1.) Make sure you fully understand what the purpose of the organization is and who will benefit from it.  2.) What are the values and services that the clients will receive from the non-profit.  A Business "incubator" is a facility that help places getting started by low costs means and are great source to check into.  The National Counsel of Nonprofit Associations is where you can locate these businesses.
 
    Also, when starting a new non-profit you want to watch out for one thing - Founder's Syndrome, which is, operating more with the founder (usually) of the business rather than dedicating to what the cause is for.
 
    There are several online resources, Nonprofits.org and About.com (type in 'nonprofit charitable orgs') are great sites, and even free booklets that are available to research and help you clearly understand more.
 
                                                                                                     Adam


 
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Disclaimer:

Remember these are the sole opinions of Adam and they are not to be taken seriously. In the retrospect, that everyone who is in emotional distress should seek professional help not an advice columnist. These are just opinions and his thoughts on the matter and are not to be taken as anything more.