How can I start a non profit organization but still make a living doing it?

Question

I want to start an orginization decorating new places for women and children of domestic violence. I work as a visual coordinator for a company and do alot of decorating. Although I love what I do I don't feel fullfilled by the end of the day. How can I start an organization doing this? Can I make a career out of this? Whom can I contact?

Answer 1

I don't know what country you're from and whether it's the same as here in Canada, but here you can set up a non profit society or a nonprofit company. Nonprofit is a bit of a misnomer. Nonprofits must be able to make money and pay all the bills, salaries, etc. The difference is that a nonprofit (society or company) is run by a group of people rather than an individual, the major aim is to solve a social issue rather than profit, and profits need to be put back into the organization rather than divided between shareholders. Therefore, you can certainly set up a nonprofit and make a decent salary.

Here's a great site about starting a nonprofit in the States - http://www.snpo.org/resources/startup.php and in Canada - http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/guides/guide4.asp

All the best in your endeavour - your idea is awesome!!

Answer 2

Take a look at the steps required to start a nonprofit, and other very helpful information at the Foundation Center website http://www.foundationcenter.org. They have an online tutorial detailing the process, as well as links to information on how to find and apply for government grants and foundation funding. The hard part is going to be fundraising - assuming you want to get a salary, supplies and an office, you will be spending a lot of time trying to raise money to operate, and not much time decorating.

What you may want to consider is approaching currently established organizations and seeing if there are any ways that you could team up with them in a way that would meet your and their goals. That way, they would be able to concentrate on fundraising, and you would be free to do what you do best.

Answer 3

It is great that you wanna start a non-profit organization (charity?)

What you can do is:

1. Decide what NPO do want to start. Example (home for the disabled... thse who can't walk). Then create a product line for it. People will buy it once they realize that the product is for the good of others. Just make sure that ample percent per product will really go to charity. Or, it will depeat the purpose.

or

2. Start an organizations catering to charity and get fundings from sponsorship.

There, i hope it helped.

Answer 4

by adding a profitable item to your organization