Then do a lot of “look before you leap”. Read as much as you can. Understand what you are going to do BEFORE you do it. Find another non profit which provides similar services and talk to them. (always better to learn from other people’s mistakes!) Find an attorney and/or cpa who has set up similar organizations. Don’t forget insurance! Make sure you have people who have some business savvy who are involved in the day to day operations. It’s great to have a noble purpose, but remember that if you fail on the business end of things, good intentions will not keep you afloat. Don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, but too many charities run into problems because they are so intent on their “mission”, that they forget that first and foremost, they are running a business.

Thanks !