thinking of starting a charity?

Question

Does any one know how you go about starting a charity. I ant to contact a couple of celebrities for support but struggling to find contact details or agents. Searched the web

Answer 1

Well you can forget 2manydogs' yankee wankee answer for a start - IRS indeed! Also note that you need people with you on this - your group should be at least six to begin with, I suggest.

1. Check the database of the Charity Commission to make sure that a similar charity is not already in existence
2. Get advice about the set-up of the charity - it's too long to explain here. The best nearby source of advice is the local "council of voluntary organisations" (CVO), sometimes called "voluntary action council" (but this is not the Community Service Volunteers). If you don't know it, then contact the national body - the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Your local CVO will advise on all the structural details - name, committee, officers, elections meetings, powers, start-up grants etc. and it must all be enshrined in a Constitution.
3. I won't advise on celebrities. You'll need to do your own search. I typed in "celebrity agents" into an engine search and it came up with these possibilities, but that is not an endorsement. The third webpage under 3. has the NCVO's advice on enticing celebrities.

That's all you'll get from me, but at least I am not advising you to file an application for incorporation at your state office! Yanks - they're something else!

Answer 2

File an application for incorporation at your state's Secretary of State office and apply for a nonprofit exemption with the IRS, Then contact the celebrities or other donors with a clear mission plan for what the charity is supposed to do.

Answer 3

Why do you want to start a charity? Are you trying to fill a gap in an area that no other charity works in?

Answer 4

depends on what type of charity you want to have i am in need of charity can i get some help