Build the shelf
Starting a nonprofit
An organization the state recognizes and the IRS treats as tax-exempt, set up so the first year is quiet.
A nonprofit usually starts as a few people with a good idea and a free Saturday. We turn that into the corporation, the bylaws, the first board meeting and the application for exemption.
You decide what goes on the shelf. We make sure the shelf holds the weight, and tell you early when a fiscal sponsor would carry the idea better than a new corporation.
How it goes
Most formations run in four steps. We tell you where each stands.
- 01
Step 1: A first conversation
We ask what the group does, who pays for it and who will sit on the board. Then we say whether a new corporation, a fiscal sponsor or no entity at all fits best.
- 02
Step 2: The corporation
Articles of incorporation, bylaws that match how the board will actually meet, a conflict-of-interest policy and the first board resolutions.
- 03
Step 3: The exemption application
We prepare the application to the IRS, including the narrative of your activities that the reviewer reads, and file it with you.
- 04
Step 4: Registrations and the first year
State charitable registration if you will ask the public for gifts, an employer number, and a calendar of the filings that come due in the first year.
Questions about starting out
Does every nonprofit need a lawyer to start?
No. Many people file the paperwork themselves. We are most useful when the structure is unclear, when money or property is involved, or when the exemption application has to describe an unusual program.
Is a nonprofit the same as tax-exempt?
No. A nonprofit corporation is a state-law structure. Tax exemption is a separate federal status you apply for, and it carries its own rules about what the organization may do.
Can the people who start it be paid?
Reasonable pay for real work is allowed, but it has rules, and the board has to approve it the right way. We help you set that up before the first paycheck.
Bring us the document, or the idea
A short note is enough. A lawyer writes back to say whether this is something we can help with and what a first meeting involves.