501c3 START-UP ***How I did & Why I Did

One who wishes to start up a project of charitable nature no doubt that some one has a heart for it, but in case you don't let me just say that what ever is done in live without love is empty, profitless and harsh to the ears like sounding brass.
When I started The Spirit Of Life Mission in 2005 it was in response to the HOPELESSNESS I saw in the multitudes of faces in New Orleans and the rest of the gulf region that had been run over by hurricane Katrina. It so gripped my heart to see their life shattered and all hope wiped away from their heart and soul that I was compelled to give myself to rebuilding that hope in them. That compulsion no doubt comes from my Creator and He has and is driving me this day with His own love for me and the rest of His creative handiwork - my, our, fellow-man.
So have a heart, and if you don't perhaps you might check out a blog titled AT THE TABLE
( solmatthetable.blogspot.com ), and there might be some insight for you on where to find a tender and compassionate heart that is able to focus on the needs of others with compassion and tenderness. Today in 2008 it is no longer a case of natural disaster - the social and economic ills that are present as a result of the hurricane of 2005 are ongoing and quite the same as our inner cities and rural poverty stricken communities. It is no longer a disaster relief area it is a socially and economically devastated area

If you want to start a non profit charitable organization there has to be a demonstrated need when:
1. Incorporating as a non profit organization with the state.
2. Applying for 501c3 (tax exempt) status with the IRS
3. Applying for federal, state, private, corporate or local grant moneys for support.

The need has to be significant, demonstrate with statistics and other demographic information. In effect a 'needs assessment' must be done, and how to do one can be found online by googling "needs assessment". If there is no need to be addressed there is no need for charitable deeds. When Katrina rolled ashore it destroyed 68,000 homes in Mississippi alone, 1.5 million people needed to leave southern Louisiana and New Orleans and surrounding communities went underwater. What the winds did not tear down the water flooded and turned to moldy to salvage. Lives, jobs, homes, and places of employment were lost in great numbers across Louisiana, Mississippi, and into Alabama. Definitely a need. A need so great that the communities themselves could not recover by themselves, and, a need that would and will take years to come to recover from. Infra structures gone, resources depleted, all hope loss to the people of that region, and still this day, some 3 years latter, great need remains. Every county in the US (incl. Alaska and Hawaii) received people from the gulf region and today many still cannot go home. 20% of the clean up remains to be done in greater New Orleans area to date. Definitely a great need.
The need will have to be measurable when applyiong for grants to support the project(s) of your non profit organization. Facts such as number of unemployed in the area, quantity of houses lost and number still able to be renovated for livable use again. Plaquemines Parish in the New Orleans area lost over 600 commercial fishing vessels - 80% of it's fleet; St Bernard Parish lost 79% of it's homes - over 40,000; It's only hospital was destroyed and all schools unusable after Katrina wrecked havoc on the region. This is only the greater New Orleans area - the destruction stretches 1000s of miles. By National Guardsmen assessment, it was worse than Baghdad because it was not localized here in La. and Ms. like the bombings in Baghdad were, but the wreckage just went on and on and on.
So need is vital and must be measurable if you are going to start a non profit, 501c3, tax exempt organization. After all, why start a service that isn't needed.

Once the IRS has classified you a non profit public charity, tax exempt, you will want to procure funding to do the thing you are desiring to do. Funds are not as easy to come by as many would advertise them to be. Although there are 1.5 million grants in the US, and although many may fund the type of projects you desire to do, the criteria must be met to qualify and then there is great competition for those funds. The funds may be private or corporate foundations such as the FORD FOUNDATION or HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION, or the funds may be government grants, but where ever or whom ever is offering funds there are 5 specific areas of criteria that will be considered.
In this text we want to discuss the first of those five, and that is CAPACITY. Do you have the capacity to do what you are attempting to do? If building affordable housing and offering job training do you have the expertise, the office personnel, the Board of Directors with expertise, to do it. Expertise such as financial expertise, legal counsel, contracting experience, training others abilities, etc. etc. etc. In terms of office personnel, is there accounting services involved, is there a financial officer, are there checks and balances incorporated into the organization, who keeps the project records, who runs the projects, what are their qualifications: I think you get the idea - what is your ability as an organization to accomplish the vision?