Inaugural Do-Good Chat: Questions & Answers

Last night, I hosted my first “Do-Good Chat” and it was a great success! A discussion completely determined by participant questions, the Chat is a monthly live event where I answer participant’s questions and provide information related to starting, operating and sustaining a nonprofit organization.

I hope you will join me in the next session, Thursday, February 21^st at 7pm (EST). Register here for the free event,

Below are last night’s questions and my answers.

I am in the planning stages for my nonprofit and I’d like some tips on how to recruit board members.

Recruiting members of your “founding board” should be done with care. You want to choose people who understand and genuinely support your vision. Though it is important to have an eye for professional skills, you want to give equal attention to the personalities you recruit. Members of your first board must be willing roll up their sleeves and go to work -- giving their time, talent and treasure. They must also be able to understand and get along with each other.  I recommend you start with five members, but you can have as few as three. Ideally, you should have a lawyer and an accountant. It would be great if you also have a member of your target beneficiary community. For example, if you are starting a youth serving organization, have a young person serve on your board. Their input can be invaluable to your mission and vision development process as well as program and service design.  Though there is nothing wrong with having family members or friends serve on your founding board, make sure they understand what they are signing up for. Also, once you become a paid staff member, a conflict of interest issue could develop. Finally, I believe all boards should set term limits. For your founding board, I suggest you set a term of one to two years. As time goes on, you may change extend it to three years. Setting term limits will keep your board stocked with fresh energy, ideas and an ever expanding support network. Past board members may remain involved through other forms of volunteerism, such as serving on a committee.  

I have been doing lots of volunteer work at my son’s school and could use some fresh ideas on how to manage volunteers and events.

The key to successful volunteer management is communication. A volunteer should clearly understand his/her role and responsibilities. I recommend using position descriptions and reviewing them with the volunteer at the start of any assignment. When it comes to managing groups of volunteers doing similar work, you can review the role and responsibilities in a group setting – be ready for the questions! When you are clear about your expectations, volunteers are better positioned to meet them. If the volunteers are helping you to put on an event you are coordinating, you have to engage them early. For example, if they are going to serve as your planning committee, get them to the table early and allow them to actively participate in the planning. Outline your timeline (setting realistic goals) and assign duties and tasks that your volunteers are both willing and capable of performing. Give them well defined deadlines. Volunteers are people and as we know, some people procrastinate. It’s your job to check-in with your volunteers. This will help you to:

·         know if your volunteer is completing the task as assigned;

·         prevent your volunteer from going too far down the road in the wrong direction;

·         provide your volunteer with support and any needed further instruction;

·         make your volunteer feel valued and appreciated; and

·         have peace of mind (that’s always helps). 

Always acknowledge your volunteers, say thank you as many times as you can, and provide lots of opportunities for them to ask questions, give input and provide feedback.

I see so many boarded up buildings in my community, I want to get a grant to rehab them for people suffering from addiction.  Will the City give me a grant?

This is a great question to which I cannot give a “yes” or “no” answer. But it brings up an important issue to discuss. I am always excited to meet someone whose passion drives them to take on complex projects in order to deliver much needed programs and services. However, it is important to remember that passion can only take you so far when it comes to executing a complex project or developing a successful program. In this case, you want your City to give you a grant to do something that would benefit the City in several ways: (1) remove decaying buildings from what are likely under its ownership, (2) provide support and resources to a segment of its vulnerable citizenry, and (3) in-directly and quite possibly directly impact crime rates, death rates, and a host of health and human service programs. This is all great; but before you can achieve any of these lofty goals, there is much homework for you to do. This homework, an investment of your time and likely your personal resources, will help you to determine if you are actually ready, willing and capable (I have no doubt you are) to make your dream a reality. 

Here are my suggestions for first steps:

·         Identify the exact house(s) you want to rehab.

·         Draft an outline of what you want to achieve, broken down into phases (i.e., secure units, rehab units, develop programs, secure staffing, etc).

·         Establish what I call your “Vision Team”: Identify key individuals willing to volunteer their time and talent to help you assess the feasibility of project from a development perspective as well as a programmatic perspective. Your team might include a developer, city planner, accountant, and substance abuse treatment specialist.

·         After you have secured buy-in and the “green light” from your Vision Team, identify and meet with the appropriate City staff in housing, health, and, if possible the Mayor’s office. Getting their buy-in and the “green light” is critical to your success.

This will not be an overnight process. But if you are committed, I have no doubt you can achieve your goal – changing the lives of countless people affected by addiction.

I just started my nonprofit and we don’t have 501(c)(3) status yet, does that mean we cannot ask for grants and donations?

Before I delve into answering this question, let me clarify that having the 501(c)(3) status from the IRS is not what makes your organization a nonprofit. Nonprofit status is based on how your organization is formed at the state level. When you prepare your Articles of Incorporation, also called a Corporate Charter, you explain the purpose of your organization and file it with your state. Once approved, for all intents and purposes, your organization is a nonprofit. However, that does not necessarily mean you qualify for grants – in most cases you will not. That is because in order for donations to be tax deductible, they must have been made to an organization with a valid tax exemption status determination from the IRS. In most cases, grant makers require organization’s to have the IRS tax exemption status determination to qualify for their support.

The basic requirement for getting tax exempt status is for the organization to specifically limit its purposes to purposes that the IRS classifies as tax exempt. You acquire 501(c)(3) tax exemption by filing IRS Form 1023. The form must be accompanied by an $850 filing fee if the yearly gross receipts for the organization are expected to average $10,000 or more. If yearly gross receipts are expected to average less than $10,000, the filing fee is reduced to $400. I encourage anyone starting an organization in which they plan to secure grants and donations for the purposes of operating a staffed organization to file with the higher fee.*

The only thing precluding you from securing grants and donations prior to securing you 501(c)(3) status, is each grantmaker’s policy and each individual donor’s willingness to make a non-deductible donation.

*Consult your accountant and/or attorney to determine what is best for you.