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Want To Help People Who Need It Most? How To Start An Anti-Poverty Nonprofit

19 December 2019

Pearl Welch

In the U.S., about forty million Americans are impoverished. There are varying degrees of poverty, too, ranging from the homeless and starving to those that cannot make ends meet even with two incomes because the cost of living where they are is too high. The truly sad thing is that many of these people have to live with the stigma of being lazy or uneducated, when in fact, a good percentage are neither lazy nor uneducated. If you want to help people who need it most and erase the stigma of poverty, here is how you can start an anti-poverty nonprofit organization.

Apply for a 501(c) (3) Status

This status recognizes your "corporation" as a tax-exempt charitable foundation. Prior to filing for this status, you have to open a business and file your Articles of Incorporation. It is a long and arduous process because you have to show a profit before you can be considered a business and before you can file the Articles of Incorporation. Operating for at least a year as though your business is a charity is necessary to file both the Articles and the 501 (c) (3) status. Count on borrowing a lot of money to get started, and then paying it off after you have received your tax-exempt status. It will take a lot of financial juggling, but you can do it. 

Find Backers

You are not looking for investors. You are looking for donators. This is tricky since donators want to see where the money will go, and possibly have some control over how the money is helping people. Initially, you need backers until you can apply for and get enough grants as a charity. Work with the backers/donators until you have acquired charity/nonprofit status. Then you can apply for grants to help fund and support your anti-poverty nonprofit. 

Look for Volunteers to Staff Your Charity's Office

You cannot pay people to work in a charity office. You would lose all of the funding to salaries/wages and not much would be left for charitable giving. You will have to find volunteers who are willing to help establish the charity, get it up and running, and then help keep it running. You will also have to establish a Board of Trustees who will vote on important decisions and see to it that the money is disbursed fairly to all those who come seeking financial help.

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