Whether you’re raising money for your own non-profit organization or another charity, there are several creative ways to host a fundraiser. Instead of holding a regular gala or dinner, think outside the box and come up with something that’ll delight and thrill your guests.

To get you started, we’ve come up with six unique fundraising ideas we’re sure you haven’t tried yet.

1. Themed and custom accessories

Many fundraisers involve selling unique branded clothing items like shirts, jackets, or caps. Why not get creative and sell custom themed accessories instead?

Imagine having a custom Elite Sport Socks Fundraiser, inviting people to buy footwear featuring their favorite team. You can even host a themed event, allowing attendees to dress up in support of whatever game they love.

Alternatively, opt for a wacky and quirky theme. Sell custom scarves, strange ties, or colorful gloves. The sillier, the better.

Turn the entire thing into a dress-up event and give out small prizes to those attendees who end up looking the strangest. The more tie-dye scarves and pizza-printed leg warmers they’re wearing, the better. Not only will people donate a little extra to get more goodies, but they’ll also have a good laugh while doing it.

Remember, fundraisers don’t need to be serious and glamourous galas. There’s nothing wrong with laughing all the way to the donation box.

2. Scavenger hunts

A scavenger hunt is an exciting activity on its own. However, it’s also a great way to raise money for a cause or charity. The cost of setting one up is generally very cheap, and you don’t need to give out expensive prizes to make the game worthwhile.

Make things interesting by setting up a hunt across the city. You can charge teams a small entry fee, with all the profits going towards the chosen cause. That way, participants will be making donations while having a great time.

To liven things up a little, create donation tiers. When someone donates a certain amount, they can choose an outfit for their team or challenge another group to dress in a certain way. There are various ways you can spice up fundraisers this way.

That said, don’t add any tiers that would ruin the fun for everyone. For example, not all donors will be able to give large amounts of funds. Giving out extra clues for high donations takes a lot of fun out of the game. Instead, make the tiers fun and rewarding rather than essentially offering “cheats.”

3. Escape rooms

Escape rooms have become incredibly popular in recent years. After entrepreneur Victor van Doorn started Sherlocked, these puzzle games have spread across the world. There are now 15 of them, and they thrill and delight players with hours of adventurous fun.

Interestingly, van Doorn claims that it’s not all that difficult to create your own escape rooms. All it takes is a love of puzzles and a little out of the box thinking. Having a good story helps, of course, as would a cause.

Have attendees pay a small fee to enjoy an escape room at your fundraiser. You could even have more than one and allow donors to pick and choose which stories and puzzles they’d like to try. 

Not only is it a very creative way to raise funds, but you don’t need to spend a lot of money to create a thrilling experience. Everyday items can be used to set up the puzzles. In fact, you can use anything from a YouTube mystery music playlist to locked USB drives to build a fun narrative.

4. Video Game Tournament

Video games used to be something you enjoyed now and then, lounging on the floor in front of the living room television. Today, it’s a massive global industry with tournaments, sponsorships, and multi-million dollar prizes.

Gaming is a widespread hobby, and over 2 billion people enjoy playing video games in some form. Holding a tournament could be a fantastic way to raise money for your organization.

Charge an entry fee, and offer a few good prizes for people who place at the top. Various games would be great for an evening like this.

Pit racers against each other in Mario Kart and have the crowd cheer them on. Alternatively, throw everyone into a Fortnite Battle Royale and see who’s the last man or woman standing. Hearthstone is another excellent option, and the learning curve isn’t too steep.

You could even dig up a few older games to make attendees feel nostalgic if you’re catering to an older group.

5. Non-event fundraisers

Some high-profile non-profit organizations have sizable advertising budgets and spend small fortunes on their fundraising events and galas. Instead of organizing a party to raise money for a charity, have a non-event.

When you send out the “invitations,” let people know what they won’t be getting for their money. For example, make a note of how a $30 donation will go directly to your chosen charity rather than towards a gala dinner.

These types of “events” add a refreshing level of transparency and honesty to charity fundraising. Your donors might even be inclined to donate more, knowing that their money won’t be spent frivolously.

6. Remote and virtual fundraisers

Virtual fundraisers are nothing new. Many popular YouTubers have used the platform to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for various charitable organizations. For example, well-known let’s player, Jacksepticeye, raised $659,000 in a single stream for various relief funds as part of the #HopefromHome online event.

A remote virtual fundraiser can be big or small. You can host a simple stream and with a donation link or create an interactive online bash. Either way, the steps are relatively similar to organizing a regular event.

You’ll need to choose a platform, like Zoom or YouTube, find speakers or performers, send out invitations and decide how to accept donations. There are several online software providers to receive payments from which to choose.

Whether you want to host an action, do a presentation, or enjoy a trivia challenge, your options for a remote fundraiser are almost endless.

Final word

Despite common opinion, fundraisers don’t have to be boring, standard, or follow strict rules. There’s nothing wrong with hosting a fun, creative, and out of the box event to raise money for your organization or a charity.

Sell silly customized accessories like socks, gloves, and leg warmers, and tack on an event to make things a little more interesting. Organize a scavenger hunt, or thrill your donors by hosting a series of escape rooms and stories for them to figure out.

Keep in mind that people want to donate to causes and charities, but they also want to feel like their money is being spent responsibly. Skip the event altogether, and show your non-guests how their donations can truly help.

Whether you choose to host a tournament or party, don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Just because they’re donating to a good cause, it doesn’t mean your donors don’t want to have fun while doing it.

Nonprofit partnerships are widespread in the corporate world because they enable businesses and enterprises to join forces with a philanthropic outlet to improve their public profile and the community simultaneously. Workplace giving raises more than $5 billion annually, according to Nonprofits Source.

As an organization that runs on donations, it’s logical for a nonprofit to want a piece of that giving. That said, there are times when it’s essential to look more critically at a gift.

Avoid the “devil” in the details

Similar to Descartes’ “evil demon” argument, there’s the concept of “demon donors” in the nonprofit world. These are people who want to elevate their brand by donating money linked to practices that conflict with a nonprofit’s stated mission. Demon donors are in it for the positive publicity rather than the greater good.

Nonprofits have to make tough decisions regarding demon donors, and they can face public backlash if they partner with the wrong people. Donations are a vital measurement of a nonprofit’s success, but money shouldn’t outrank the desire — and need — to stay closely tied to your goals and mission statements.

It can be tough to discern the nature of every single donation, though. Sometimes, donors have motives and intentions unrelated to serving the greater good. As a nonprofit leader, it’s essential to evaluate each contribution to ensure it’s made in good faith and not with any strings attached.

Being a new nonprofit is exciting — and challenging

Established nonprofits may be comfortable turning down donations that don’t mesh with their values and mission, but that’s a more challenging task for newer organizations. These fledgling groups likely don’t have a deep donor pool, and a choice to reject one donation could have ripple effects for all operations across the board.

New nonprofits face unique issues that can make it more challenging to collect donations and build a roster of reliable donors. Those barriers include:

Miscalculating financial needs 

Many new nonprofits find themselves underestimating how much capital is needed to complete a project and then discover that the donation won’t cover the initiative’s expenses. Poor implementation or project processing can lead to an organization not having the funds or volunteers necessary to see things through. This lack of funds can prevent nonprofits from getting more volunteers and widening their reach.

Collecting gifts from certain sources

Another area that less-established nonprofits should focus on is the methods of the contributions themselves. These organizations are generally better at reserving and spending donations to meet their goals when they have a balance.

It can be tough to determine the right mix of donation streams, but focusing your organization’s efforts on not underdoing or overdoing donation sources can help ensure that you have the funds to reach your goals.

Lacking the necessary credibility

While most people are inclined to support a cause they believe in, they’re careful about where they choose to donate. Hardly anyone will give their hard-earned money to an organization without conducting thorough research or consulting peers. If your nonprofit doesn’t come up in potential donors’ research or conversations, you aren’t likely to see their money hit your organization’s bank account.

Additionally, building a strong foundation comes from encouraging donors to give repeatedly rather than just once. That comes from providing your donors with a return on their investments.

In other words, your nonprofit needs to provide donors with some value in exchange for their continued support.

Deciding on donations

Not every gift is what it appears to be on the surface, so it’s essential to ensure that the ones you take are in lockstep with your nonprofit’s big-picture values and objectives.

Here are four ways nonprofit leaders can ensure the donations they accept are on the up and up:

1. Stay laser-focused on your mission statement 

The world changes around us pretty rapidly. It’s easy for the need that your nonprofit addresses to evolve into something different, meaning that you have to make difficult decisions about which goals to retain and which ones to set aside.

Organizations with this level of focus decline opportunities that don’t align with their goals, choosing instead to take on challenges that can move their nonprofits forward. This is easier said than done when it comes to runway cash, but successful nonprofits are used to making difficult decisions.

2. Consider instituting ‘know your donor’ obligations

This approach can help your potential donors understand your mission and values. It will also allow your organization to accept donations only from those that are in alignment with your nonprofit.

While you can’t ensure that gifts from misaligned donors are never accepted, your organization can still make a difference by educating donors and helping them change their behaviors. In the future, you’ll set a standard that all potential donors must hit.

3. Find a nonprofit to model your organization after

Similar organizations can provide an example for your group to follow and open the door for collaboration. Look to those outfits to help build the blueprint for your donation process.

To go a step further, networking with the leaders of these organizations might provide you with better processes and guidelines for auditing donations. To bring your approach into focus, find ways to pick the brains of other organizations — directly and indirectly.

4. Figure out whether donors view you as a vendor or a partner 

While your donors likely have some valuable insights that can help your organization grow on a larger scale, some donors have other goals in mind. Occasionally, donors are searching for help completing a particular project and accomplishing their intentions rather than looking for a partner organization.

These “pay to play” donors can be tempting, but they might take you away from working toward your nonprofit’s vision. It can be difficult to grow these relationships because the “partner” for your nonprofit isn’t invested in your organization’s mission and goals — and isn’t likely to be a repeat donor.

Many nonprofits have adopted an approach that allows donors to decide how the funds they provide are used. While your organization may be reliant on gifts, you have the power to ensure that those donations contribute to your nonprofit’s mission — not anyone else’s.

Find success with donors that align with your mission

Nonprofits are built with a vision and value in mind. Neither should be compromised for the sake of a sizable donation. Making an early commitment to only seeking out gifts from ethical donors establishes those standards early and helps build the blueprint needed for nonprofits to achieve long-term success.

Believe it or not, creating a business plan for a nonprofit organization is not that different from planning for a traditional business. 

Nonprofits sometimes shy away from using the words “business planning,” preferring to use terms like “strategic plan” or “operating plan.” But, the fact is that preparing a plan for a for-profit business and a nonprofit organization are actually pretty similar processes. Both types of organizations need to create forecasts for revenue and plan how they’re going to spend the money they bring in. They also need to manage their cash and ensure that they can stay solvent to accomplish their goals.

In this guide, I’ll explain how to create a plan for your organization that will impress your board of directors, facilitate fundraising, and ensures that you deliver on your mission.

Why does a nonprofit need a business plan?

Good business planning is about setting goals, getting everyone on the same page, tracking performance metrics, and improving over time. Even when your goal isn’t to increase profits, you still need to be able to run a fiscally healthy organization.

Business planning creates an opportunity to examine the heart of your mission, the financing you’ll need to bring that mission to fruition, and your plan to sustain your operations into the future.

Nonprofits are also responsible for meeting regularly with a board of directors and reporting on your organization’s finances is a critical part of that meeting. As part of your regular financial review with the board, you can compare your actual results to your financial forecast in your business plan. Are you meeting fundraising goals and keeping spending on track? Is the financial position of the organization where you wanted it to be?

In addition to internal use, a solid business plan can help you court major donors who will be interested in having a deeper understanding of how your organization works and your fiscal health and accountability. And you’ll definitely need a formal business plan if you intend to seek outside funding for capital expenses—it’s required by lenders.

Creating a business plan for your organization is a great way to get your management team or board to connect over your vision, goals, and trajectory. Even just going through the planning process with your colleagues will help you take a step back and get some high-level perspective.

A nonprofit business plan outline

Keep in mind that developing a business plan is an ongoing process. It isn’t about just writing a physical document that is static, but a continually evolving strategy and action plan as your organization progresses over time. It’s essential that you run regular plan review meetings to track your progress against your plan. For most nonprofits, this will coincide with regular reports and meetings with the board of directors.

A nonprofit business plan will include many of the same sections of a standard business plan outline. If you’d like to start simple, you can download our free business plan template as a Word document, and adjust it according to the nonprofit plan outline below.

Executive summary

The executive summary of a nonprofit business plan is typically the first section of the plan to be read, but the last to be written. That’s because this section is a general overview of everything else in the business plan – the overall snapshot of what your vision is for the organization.

Write it as though you might share with a prospective donor, or someone unfamiliar with your organization: avoid internal jargon or acronyms, and write it so that someone who has never heard of you would understand what you’re doing.

Your executive summary should provide a very brief overview of your organization’s mission. It should describe who you serve, how you provide the services that you offer, and how you fundraise. 

If you are putting together a plan to share with potential donors, you should include an overview of what you are asking for and how you intend to use the funds raised.

Opportunity

Start this section of your nonprofit plan by describing the problem that you are solving for your clients or your community at large. Then say how your organization solves the problem.

A great way to present your opportunity is with a positioning statement. Here’s a formula you can use to define your positioning:

For [target market description] who [target market need], [this product] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [key competition], it [most important distinguishing feature].

And here’s an example of a positioning statement using the formula:

For children, ages five to 12 (target market) who are struggling with reading (their need), Tutors Changing Lives (your organization or program name) helps them get up to grade-level reading through a once a week class (your solution).

Unlike the school district’s general after-school homework lab (your state-funded competition), our program specifically helps children learn to read within six months (how you’re different).

Your organization is special or you wouldn’t spend so much time devoted to it. Layout some of the nuts and bolts about what makes it great in this opening section of your business plan. Your nonprofit probably changes lives, changes your community, or maybe even changes the world. Explain how it does this.

This is where you really go into detail about the programs you’re offering. You’ll want to describe how many people you serve and how you serve them.

Target audience

In a for-profit business plan, this section would be used to define your target market. For nonprofit organizations, it’s basically the same thing but framed as who you’re serving with your organization. Who benefits from your services?

Not all organizations have clients that they serve directly, so you might exclude this section if that’s the case. For example, an environmental preservation organization might have a goal of acquiring land to preserve natural habitats. The organization isn’t directly serving individual groups of people and is instead trying to benefit the environment as a whole. 

Similar organizations

Everyone has competition—nonprofits, too. You’re competing with other nonprofits for donor attention and support, and you’re competing with other organizations serving your target population. Even if your program is the only one in your area providing a specific service, you still have competition.

Think about what your prospective clients were doing about their problem (the one your organization is solving) before you came on this scene. If you’re running an after-school tutoring organization, you might be competing with after school sports programs for clients. Even though your organizations have fundamentally different missions.

For many nonprofit organizations, competing for funding is an important issue. You’ll want to use this section of your plan to explain who donors would choose your organization instead of similar organizations for their donations.

Future services and programs

If you’re running a regional nonprofit, do you want to be national in five years? If you’re currently serving children ages two to four, do you want to expand to ages five to 12? Use this section to talk about your long-term goals. 

Just like a traditional business, you’ll benefit by laying out a long-term plan. Not only does it help guide your nonprofit, but it also provides a roadmap for the board as well as potential investors. 

Promotion and outreach strategies

In a for-profit business plan, this section would be about marketing and sales strategies. For nonprofits, you’re going to talk about how you’re going to reach your target client population.

You’ll probably do some combination of:

• Advertising: print and direct mail, television, radio, and so on.
• Public relations: press releases, activities to promote brand awareness, and so on.
• Digital marketing: website, email, blog, social media, and so on.

Similar to the “target audience” section above, you may remove this section if you don’t promote your organization to clients and others who use your services.

Costs and fees

Instead of including a pricing section, a nonprofit business plan should include a costs or fees section.

Talk about how your program is funded, and whether the costs your clients pay are the same for everyone, or based on income level, or something else. If your clients pay less for your service than it costs to run the program, how will you make up the difference?

If you don’t charge for your services and programs, you can state that here or remove this section.

Fundraising sources

Fundraising is critical for most nonprofit organizations. This portion of your business plan will detail who your key fundraising sources are. 

Similar to understanding who your target audience for your services is, you’ll also want to know who your target market is for fundraising. Who are your supporters? What kind of person donates to your organization? Creating a “donor persona” could be a useful exercise to help you reflect on this subject and streamline your fundraising approach. 

You’ll also want to define different tiers of prospective donors and how you plan on connecting with them. You’re probably going to include information about your annual giving program (usually lower-tier donors) and your major gifts program (folks who give larger amounts).

If you’re a private school, for example, you might think of your main target market as alumni who graduated during a certain year, at a certain income level. If you’re building a bequest program to build your endowment, your target market might be a specific population with interest in your cause who is at retirement age.

Do some research. The key here is not to report your target donors as everyone in a 3,000-mile radius with a wallet. The more specific you can be about your prospective donors—their demographics, income level, and interests, the more targeted (and less costly) your outreach can be.

Fundraising activities

How will you reach your donors with your message? Use this section of your business plan to explain how you will market your organization to potential donors and generate revenue.

You might use a combination of direct mail, advertising, and fundraising events. Detail the key activities and programs that you’ll use to reach your donors and raise money.

Strategic alliances and partnerships

Use this section to talk about how you’ll work with other organizations. Maybe you need to use a room in the local public library to run your program for the first year. Maybe your organization provides mental health counselors in local schools, so you partner with your school district.

In some instances, you might also be relying on public health programs like Medicaid to fund your program costs. Mention all those strategic partnerships here, especially if your program would have trouble existing without the partnership.

Milestones and metrics

Without milestones and metrics for your nonprofit, it will be more difficult to execute on your mission. Milestones and metrics are guideposts along the way that are indicators that your program is working and that your organization is healthy.

They might include elements of your fundraising goals—like monthly or quarterly donation goals, or it might be more about your participation metrics. Since most nonprofits working with foundations for grants do complex reporting on some of these, don’t feel like you have to re-write every single goal and metric for your organization here. Think about your bigger goals, and if you need to, include more information in your business plan’s appendix.

If you’re revisiting your plan on a monthly basis, and we recommend that you do, the items here might speak directly to the questions you know your board will ask in your monthly trustee meeting. The point is to avoid surprises by having eyes on your organization’s performance. Having these goals, and being able to change course if you’re not meeting them, will help your organization avoid falling into a budget deficit.

Key assumptions and risks

Your nonprofit exists to serve a particular population or cause. Before you designed your key programs or services, you probably did some research to validate that there’s a need for what you’re offering.

But you probably are also taking some calculated risks. In this section, talk about the unknowns for your organization. If you name them, you can address them.

For example, if you think there’s a need for a children’s literacy program, maybe you surveyed teachers or parents in your area to verify the need. But because you haven’t launched the program yet, one of your unknowns might be whether the kids will actually show up.

Management team and company

Who is going to be involved and what are their duties? What do these individuals bring to the table?

Include both the management team of the day-to-day aspects of your nonprofit as well as board members and mention those who may overlap between the two roles. Highlight their qualifications: titles, degrees, relevant past accomplishments, and designated responsibilities should be included in this section. It adds a personal touch to mention team members who are especially qualified because they’re close to the cause or have special first-hand experience with or knowledge of the population you’re serving.

There are probably some amazing, dedicated people with stellar qualifications on your team—this is the place to feature them (and don’t forget to include yourself!).

Financial plan

The financial plan is essential to any organization that’s seeking funding, but also incredibly useful internally to keep track of what you’ve done so far financially and where you’d like to see the organization go in the future.

The financial section of your business plan should include a long-term budget and cash flow statement with a three to five-year forecast. This will allow you to see that the organization has its basic financial needs covered. Any nonprofit has its standard level of funding required to stay operational, so it’s essential to make sure your organization will consistently maintain at least that much in the coffers.

From that point, it’s all about future planning: If you exceed your fundraising goals, what will be done with the surplus? What will you do if you don’t meet your fundraising goals? Are you accounting for appropriate amounts going to payroll and administrative costs over time? Thinking through a forecast of your financial plan over the next several years will help ensure that your organization is sustainable.

Money management skills are just as important in a nonprofit as they are in a for-profit business. Knowing the financial details of your organization is incredibly important in a world where the public is ranking the credibility of charities based on what percentage of donations makes it to the programs and services. As a nonprofit, people are interested in the details of how money is being dispersed within organizations, with this information often being posted online on sites like Charity Navigator, so the public can make informed decisions about donating.

Potential contributors will do their research—so make sure you do too. No matter who your donors are, they will want to know they can trust your organization with their money. A robust financial plan is a solid foundation for reference that your nonprofit is on the right track.

Business planning is ongoing

It’s important to remember that a business plan doesn’t have to be set in stone. It acts as a roadmap, something that you can come back to as a guide, then revise and edit to suit your purpose at a given time.

I recommend that you review your financial plan once a month to see if your organization is on track, and then revise your plan as necessary.

Additional Help

Our free business plan template can help you work through each section of your plan. Also, be sure to check out a complete nonprofit business plan example for reference. 

If you’re looking for a tool to help you write your business plan, you may want to check out LivePlan. It can easily be configured to create a nonprofit business plan with step-by-step guidance throughout the process. You’ll be able to easily develop forecasts and compare to your actuals through a single dashboard to actively plan, adjust, and present to investors and board members. It’s a great option to keep business planning simple so you can focus on serving those that you’re hoping to help.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2014. It was updated in 2021.

Nonprofit leadership is struggling. More than 80 percent of nonprofits have management issues, and only 11 percent are prepared for growth. That’s why leadership development is so important.

The problem is an old, hierarchical approach to leadership—one adopted from the for-profit sector. This top-down leadership style is based on one person controlling direct reports, but it’s no longer effective.

It’s time to move to a mission-driven nonprofit leadership approach that creates engagement, encourages commitment, and isn’t based on control or even authority. This leadership style is collaborative and involves a role reversal between leaders and team members: teams make most of the decisions, and leaders facilitate those teams so they make the best decisions possible.

In this situation, teams take ownership of their outcomes: their goals and metrics. But to make this happen, leaders and nonleaders alike must know how to build high-performing teams. The result is more egalitarian, engaged teams that accomplish their goals.

Why Is Leadership Development Important for Nonprofits?

Nonprofits have an opportunity to offer a distinctly different work environment than their for-profit counterparts. For-profit cultures are often based on competition and power-based models, but nonprofit management and leadership don’t need to mimic that. Nonprofits can shift to a cooperative power model that offers a culture of success instead of one of failure.

Why is leadership development important? Culture is critical in nonprofits. In a culture of success, people are engaged and actively learning and experimenting. They are set up to succeed, but they feel challenged, motivated, and supported. And they produce—because being productive feels good, and working with others to achieve something that feels important is deeply satisfying. That’s the mark of a successful (and growing) nonprofit organization.

Employees don’t want to be motivated; they want nonprofit leaders to engage them in meaningful tasks while allowing them to experience growth. That doesn’t happen with the old directive-style leadership. When leaders have the skills to create high-performing teams regardless of the individual members, then they really have something.

In a collaborative environment, leadership needs to promote collaborative skills: facilitation, coaching, mentoring, influencing, negotiating, selling, etc. You’ll notice ideas such as delegating, budgeting, organizing, motivating, and evaluating are not on the list—that’s because those skills have value in the old hierarchical operating system. Leaders need to be able to get things done without authority or any attempts to control other people.

How to Empower Others to Lead Through Collaboration

Shifting to a culture of success begins at the top, with managing directors and their direct reports. They need to shift out of the hierarchical way of leading and learn to lead collaboratively. These three strategies will help you move from directive to collaborative leadership.

1. Set a goal for creating a culture of success

What makes growing a nonprofit organization possible? A strong vision of the organization, a solid business plan (or strategic plan),  and a culture of success to fulfill that vision. This will require reflecting on your existing culture.

Culture is critical to the success of nonprofits, so be brutally honest about the gap between what is and what should be. Once you’ve taken stock of the situation, make sure your leadership development efforts support a culture of success rather than one of failure.

Do your employees feel that they’re set up to be successful, or do they feel defeated before they even start? Is it acceptable for team members to turn down additional work? Are most initiatives you start successes or failures?

Come up with a strategy for shifting the organization so you can reach your vision. Just as you create a strategy for achieving your mission through your strategic plan, you need a plan for how the team members are going to support each other in working toward these goals. It might help to complete a vision session that explores how you want the organization to operate, using the approach described in my next point.

2. Train leaders to practice collaborative leadership

Nonprofit management and leadership personnel are accountable for the organization and are key models for leadership behavior, so change must begin with them—it’s why leadership development is important.

To create a culture of success, leaders need to learn how to govern collaboratively. Many people think collaboration means collecting inputs, making a decision, and then sharing that decision with direct reports. In reality, collaboration is quite different. It’s about getting all stakeholders to make a decision together, transferring the decision-making responsibilities from the leader to the team.

To do this, teams need a methodology—a set of collaborative tools, such as running through a multistep process to reach the best solution. I once trained NASA employees who were working on the Mars Exploration Program on the art of collaborative decision-making. As part of the training, six different groups used the same framework to approach a complicated decision. By the end of the exercise, each of the groups had reached the same conclusion.

Provide training to your leadership on how to use these tools to solve problems. They need to engage with those tools on an ongoing basis until this new way of solving problems or creating plans becomes a habit. Once that happens, this approach will be embedded in “how we do things around here.”

Be transparent about your goals and how you’re progressing; make sure everyone on your team understands the problem to solve, and also has the space to apply their own expertise to the business of how to get the work done. 

If you don’t have a budget for in-person training on developing collaborative practices, combine self-guided programs with virtual coaching. Once your leadership team has put this into practice, you can move on to the next step.

3. Train your team members

Once your nonprofit management and leadership team members demonstrate competence in collaborative leadership skills, then it’s time to develop leadership skills in employees.

Your training should focus on the kind of skills that make people great team members: making collaborative decisions, communicating clearly, solving problems collaboratively, and creating project or initiative plans together. You’ll also want to devote time to the skills and behaviors associated with being a productive team member, such as being able to work with others in a collaborative environment.

Because team members will be making key decisions and coordinating plans for any initiatives you launch, they should also learn how to use the collaborative tools you’ve trained your leadership team members to facilitate.

Note that you can’t teach people to collaborate by having them complete modules on laptops, though. Your team members need to practice the art of collaboration with each other. You’ll want to find training tools and partners that support collaborative leadership styles. Continue using those tools to approach collaborative decision-making until it becomes routine.

Being able to answer “Why is leadership development important?” is key for nonprofits, but you also need to make efforts to move toward genuine collaborative leadership. Develop a sound strategy and take steps to conduct nonprofit leadership training. After your leaders are fully trained, you’ll be ready to develop leadership skills in employees. Once everyone is comfortable using those skills, you’ll be ready to benefit from a much more collaborative and productive culture.

Building a nonprofit from the ground up is a challenge. Newness creates a certain level of liability, which is evidenced by the fact that nonprofits—like startups—are more likely to fail closer to their founding.

Staffing is another common concern; most nonprofits don’t have the budget to match salaries in the for-profit sector. It can be challenging to get a good enough handle on your cash flow to feel confident that you can afford to add a new hire salary to your budget to begin with. And then there are government regulations, strategic planning challenges, changing tax codes, organizational growth, membership, revenue, and other barriers.

Of all those obstacles, funding may be one of the biggest challenges. A new nonprofit must develop a strong and comprehensive fundraising strategy to have any chance of securing the funds it needs to operate. It also must build a sustainable and scalable donor engagement program and an active board of directors. For these reasons (along with many others), networking is one of the most important tasks for new nonprofits.

Trouble connecting

My biggest challenge when starting a nonprofit was finding projects that made an impact with a reasonable amount of funding—networking was critical to its success. As you begin to build up a network, you can partner with other early-stage programs that are encountering similar challenges.

Creating a nonprofit network, however, can be just as challenging as building a nonprofit. For one, few people understand how to build and sustain a group of organizations focused on a shared social goal. They often see each other as competitors vying for the same funds, leading these partnerships to become one-off affairs.

If they were to look at the bigger picture, they’d realize how conducive an organizational network is to the nonprofit sector. Most nonprofits work on relatively large and complex issues that could benefit from a pool of common resources.

Coming together also provides an opportunity to learn from one another and tap into a more diverse breadth of knowledge. If one organization lacks a specific skill set, the odds are likely that another nonprofit has that expertise in spades. Nonprofits can ease a lot of the uncertainty that accompanies launching new programs or initiatives by lending each other a helping hand.

Getting to know you

Chances are you feel that your time would be better spent cultivating donors than building a network. Fundraising and networking go hand in hand, however, and the following are a few of the best places to begin your networking efforts:

1. Develop a fundraising strategy

It’s one thing to invite people to share in your mission—it’s something else entirely to inspire them to donate to your cause. This often begins with a fundraising strategy. Define the specific issues you’ll be addressing and how you intend to address them. Determine what kind of value you’ll provide, what outcomes you want to achieve, and what success looks like.

Better yet, identify community need. When you understand the needs of your community, you can adjust your mission to address these needs. Local businesses can then fall in line, as most business owners want to enrich and strengthen the same community. Only after you understand what’s actually driving your mission should you invite others to join forces and share in your organizational vision.

Another aspect of any strong fundraising strategy is community presence. Look for ways to build a presence for your organization within your community. Some nonprofit leaders join their respective city councils while others become part of a local rotary. A rotary club usually brings together representatives from a cross-section of businesses, so it provides substantial exposure and a great opportunity to flex those networking muscles.

2. Host an event

Events are common fundraising efforts in the nonprofit sector, but they also provide an opportunity to connect with other community members. Focus on the social aspects of the occasion and get to know more about the people in attendance—their interests could provide a chance to talk about your organization, its mission, and its initiatives.

Avoid going for the hard sell, though. Even if some attendees can contribute significant funds, focus more on cultivating and strengthening relationships with potential partners and donors. Ask questions and develop personal connections with attendees. When people feel like you’re interested in them—and not simply what they can do for you—the chances of continued support increase exponentially.

What’s more, consider attending their events. If a local nonprofit is hosting an auction or a similar benefit, get on the guest list. It’s not just another opportunity to network with other like-minded professionals—it’s a show of support. Considering that support often begets support; your attendance could also boost the crowd for your next event.

3. Join a nonprofit network

Linking up with a group of like-minded people is an essential part of building a strong network. As with any event, nonprofit groups provide an opportunity to connect with others in your industry, with an added bonus: advice. These people know what you’re going through, and can offer valuable insights.

Take, for example, Habitat for Humanity in Egypt. This nonprofit’s activities are similar to your local chapter, with volunteers building homes and revitalizing neighborhoods. But they have also taken steps to build a network with community-based organizations to address other aspects of homelessness.

Try to take these relationships beyond the traditional “partnering up” for a single program; develop an actual network of nonprofits committed to a single cause. Think of it as pooling your resources for greater, more sustainable success. Networked nonprofits often achieve their missions more efficiently and effectively than those that go it alone.

4. Use board members’ networks

Board members bring a wide array of skills and insights to nonprofits. If, for example, you lack public relations expertise, a PR professional could be a great candidate for your advisory board. But pro bono expertise isn’t the only reason for board recruitment—all board members also become organizational stewards.

While stewardship takes many forms, it has unmatched potential to help you connect with people you don’t already know. From there, it’s up to you to cultivate relationships with these new connections and encourage them to get involved—whether it’s attending an event, volunteering their time, or making a monetary contribution. This rapid network expansion is one of the most effective ways that board members can add value to your nonprofit.

There is no shortage of challenges in the nonprofit space. Why add to the mix by alienating others who want to achieve the same goals as your organization? Put yourself out there, mingle with like-minded folks, and get to know other leaders on a personal level. It could be the key to your fledgling nonprofit’s success.

The Palo Alto Software team, volunteering with local nonprofit Mackenzie River Trust.

This article is part of both our Nonprofit Business Startup Guide and our Business Startup Guide—curated lists of great articles that will get you up and running in no time!

Starting a nonprofit is one of the most rewarding ways a person can spend their time— and it also requires thorough planning and solid dedication.

When you first have that great idea for a charitable organization that could really make a difference, you are likely full of enthusiasm and energy—and it’s key to channel that energy into practical action, so you can move full steam ahead to make your vision a reality.

In this guide to starting a nonprofit, we’ll give you the tools you need to learn how to get up and running.

1. Conduct a needs analysis

First, do some legwork. There are already more than 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. alone, so the first thing you should do is verify that some other organization isn’t already serving the need you’ve identified. The process of verifying that there’s a market or demand for your organization’s mission is called a needs analysis.

You’re looking to answer the following questions:

• Is any other nonprofit organization already serving your target audience?
• How many people actually need the service you plan to provide?
• Who is your target demographic—who needs what you’re offering? What do they really need or want?
• Is a 501(c)3 the best way to meet the need?

SWOT analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

One way to get started is to do a SWOT analysis—(Strengths Weaknesses Opportunity Threats). Here’s a free SWOT template you can download. If possible, ask other people for their input—potential board members, other people in your network who have started nonprofits.

Market research: Find out if there’s a real need for your service

In addition to doing your SWOT analysis, this is a good time to do some market research, both on your target population (the people you think need what you’re offering) and potential donors.

Until you’ve actually spoken with (or surveyed) those audiences, you haven’t validated that there’s truly a need for what you’re offering. Your goal in this process is to discover what’s really there—you may find that the need in your target population is different than what you thought it was.

Or you might discover that the need actually exists within a different demographic. The point here isn’t to simply prove your assumptions—it’s ok if you find that you need to make some adjustments to your plans.

Read up on IRS nonprofit compliance

This is also a good time to understand what it means to have nonprofit 501c)3 status in the eyes of the federal government’s internal revenue service. The IRS publishes a nonprofit compliance guide that’s worth reviewing early on, so you’re clear on what’s required of that type of organization.

2. Decide on a name and write your mission statement

Deciding on your charitable startup’s name is an important initial step. You’ll need it to be finalized prior to incorporating your nonprofit or filing any other official paperwork.

Do some research to make sure no other charitable organizations or for-profit businesses are using the name you’d like to use. At the very least it will be a hassle if you’re constantly competing with another organization for brand visibility—or answering messages from confused donors or clients.

Rogaski says developing a name and logo that you are happy with is time well spent because of the pride it instills when promoting your organization. You want to be able to hand someone your card or refer them to your website with confidence that they will like what they see.

Now that you’ve verified that your organization’s services and mission are truly needed by your target audience, and decided on a name, it’s time to write your mission statement.

Keep your mission statement short, and make sure it holds up when you ask:

• Does it distinguish you from all other nonprofits?
• Read your mission statement and three other examples (in your niche) to an employee, board member, or someone receiving your services. See if they can identify which one is yours. If not, go back to the drawing board.

3. Build your board of trustees

If you don’t yet have any staff or volunteers, your first board of directors or trustees will play an important role in helping you get your nonprofit off the ground. Your trustees may be able to help you take some of the initial steps toward making your status as a nonprofit organization more official.

Every U.S. state requires that a nonprofit forms a board of directors, who assume governing responsibilities and liability for the organization. For most states, a single person is considered the minimum requirement for a board, but in some states as many as three people are necessary.

The National Council of Nonprofits has a great guide on reasonable responsibilities and expectations you might have of your board members. They also make some solid recommendations on putting together an orientation for new board members to set the stage for their role with your organization.

4. Write your nonprofit business plan

Nonprofits need a good business plan just as much as for-profit companies—maybe even more. Here’s a guide to writing a business plan for a nonprofit, and a free downloadable business plan template that can help you get started. The process of writing your plan (sometimes called a strategic plan) will help you think through all the different aspects of your organization. Plus, if you’re planning to seek a business loan for larger capital expenses, like building or remodeling, every bank will expect to see your business plan.

Lorrie Lynn King, founder of the international women’s health nonprofit 50 Cents. Period., says, “In fact, you are starting a small business. Nonprofit administration and programming require business acumen, financial planning, strategic planning, and people management skills—sometimes all at once.”

But it’s not just about getting a bank loan. Business planning is about making sure you know where your organization is going and how you’ll get there. “It is absolutely crucial to have three-year plans for both the program and administrative sides to your organization, with measurable outcomes,” King says. “Know where you want to go, then create the map for getting there and make adjustments along the way.”

A nonprofit business plan outline

A nonprofit business plan will include many of the same sections of a standard business plan:

Executive summary

Make sure your executive summary includes your mission statement. You will want to have a written overview of what your vision is for your organization.

Products and services

Are you making a life-changing product at little to no cost for a population in need? Are you providing an essential service to your community? Your products and services are what you’re delivering to meet a need.

Market analysis

Doing a market analysis will help you better understand the population you intend to serve, as well as your donor base. Doing this type of research should also give you a good handle on competition, both as far as who else is offering what you’re offering, but also in terms of who you’re asking for philanthropic support.

Management team

Who is going to be on your management or leadership team and your board of directors? What are their duties, and what do they bring to the table?

Annie Rogaski, founder of the Silicon Valley nonprofit The Club offers this tip: “Form a strong board that works well together but brings different perspectives and creates an environment that encourages discussion of those different viewpoints, to arrive at the best decision.”

Financial plan

Your nonprofit’s financial plan is essential. Just because you’re not focused on generating a profit doesn’t mean it isn’t critical to put together a plan for how you’ll sustain your organization, deal with cash flow, and even grow in the future.  

King advises: “Start a funding and a savings reserve for your organization the minute donations start rolling in. Create a system of paper trails and transparency.”

Beyond setting an initial plan for bringing in funds, you’ll want to set up and monitor a few key financials on a regular basis. It might make sense to run your financials on Excel spreadsheets for a while, but think about your long-term plans for accounting. Using a cloud accounting system like QuickBooks or Xero can help you stay organized. Plus, if you connect it to a business dashboard solution like LivePlan, it becomes much less time consuming to put together financial reports for your board meetings.

As you get the ball rolling on your new nonprofit, it can be helpful to check out completed nonprofit business plan examples for reference while you build your own.

Your nonprofit business plan will act as your guide, allowing you to make strong decisions with measurable outcomes. Business planning is one of the foremost tools for building and growing a successful nonprofit.

5. Complete your bylaws, file incorporation paperwork and for 501(c)3 status

In the United States, nonprofits have to meet regulations and requirements at both the state and federal levels. When it comes to how to start a nonprofit, this may be one of the more complicated steps.

While there are 29 different categories of 501(c) organizations, the most commonly created is a 501(c)(3) organization, which is defined by the IRS as “charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals.”

The majority of nonprofit organizations in the U.S. will fall into the category of a 501(c)(3) organization, which makes them exempt from federal income taxes. (It is important to note that employees of these organizations are still required to pay income taxes.)

It’s best to get a jump on filing for tax exemption early, as this process can take up to a year.

“There is a way to get expedited review if there is an urgent need that your nonprofit fills,” Rogaski says. “Don’t feel limited by the particular categories they identify—if you can communicate to the IRS the urgency for your nonprofit, you may be pleasantly surprised by the response.”

In addition to filing for tax exemption, you will need to register or reserve the intended name of your organization, and file articles of incorporation as a nonprofit. The specifics of this process will vary from state to state. Every state has a State Charitable Official from the national association that you can contact for more detailed information about what you will need to prepare.

It’s always a good idea to retain the services of a lawyer familiar with the nonprofit creation process, too. Knowledgeable advisors will be invaluable as you prepare your filings at both the state and federal levels.

6. Create a fundraising plan and get to know your donor base

Every organization has to keep the lights on, and nonprofits are no exception. Your organization will require a minimum amount of money just for operations on a regular basis, not to speak of special projects or unforeseen growth or expenses.

Typically, nonprofits rely largely on donations for this money and having a committed donor base is going to be essential to your organization. Ask yourself if you really know whether there is financial and community support for your proposed nonprofit. Who is the person that becomes a member of your organization, or that donates their money? Developing a user persona can be a helpful tool here.

If this is the first time you’ve ever done fundraising or nonprofit development work, consider doing some online courses on how to build a fundraising plan. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is a good place to start, though there is a cost to join. Also, you might seek a board member with experience with fundraising to help guide your initial efforts.

A key factor will be branding and marketing. Part of instilling confidence in your organization will come from choosing a good name and logo. You’ll also need to consider how you’ll reach your donors and explain the importance of your message.

How will social media, websites, videos, and so help potential donors and your target population understand what makes your organization great, and worthy of their money?

Rogaski has some words of advice on branding your new venture. From her experience, it takes time to get it right. “It took us about three months of meeting regularly, brainstorming names, to decide on our name (which stands for Connect Lead Unite Build) and to have the logo designed,” she recalls.

Of course, a strong social media presence is essential to gaining media recognition. “I cannot stress the power of networking and social media enough,” King says, noting that her active Twitter feed has landed her interviews with CNN and her local NPR station. She also makes good use of her business cards: “I never leave home without a stack of my cards, even if I’m just in yoga pants and running to the store.”

But remember to start your branding and fundraising plans with some research—understand who your prospective donors are. Talk to them, if you can, and understand what drives them so you can put together a campaign that resonates with them. And keep in mind that many donors will want assurance that you have been granted your 501(c)3 status so they can write off their donation on their taxes.

You may also want to look into grants. GrantSpace has some great resources on how to find grants for your organization. Keep in mind that grant applications take time to write. They usually come with reporting requirements, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same grant next year. Also, check out Foundation Center for lots of information on grants and fundraising in general.

7. Hire your first staff or find volunteers

Really, your board of trustees are your first volunteers. From there, you’ll probably find that there are still skill gaps within your organization, or that you just can’t get everything done yourself. Maybe it’s time to find a volunteer to help out.

Start with putting together a brief description of the role you need to fill and how much time per week you think it might take. Then get the word out. Depending on the type of volunteer work you’re offering, you might use a service like Volunteermatch.org to list your opportunity. Or you might put it on craigslist, or advertise in a high school or college newspaper.

A word of caution: if your need is fairly involved or requires a specific skill set, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask a potential volunteer to do an initial project before you commit them to a longer-term project, just to see how it goes.

Volunteers can be really helpful, and many nonprofits are primarily volunteer driven. But now or at some point in the future (when your finances allow) it might be appropriate to consider bringing on full or part-time paid staff. Here’s a guide to hiring your first employee.

8. Keep your eyes on your mission

As your charitable organization takes shape, make time to review both your mission statement and your business plan. Because you’ve been hard at work getting things up and running, it might seem like everyone around you should be able to recite your mission (and bring it to life) in their sleep. But it doesn’t hurt to keep your mission at the fore of every conversation you have around services, finances, and hiring. “Does your next move support our mission?” is a great question to ask frequently.

Review your business plan, especially the financials, regularly. Set milestones so you know you’re on track, and can recalibrate if you ever find that you’re not meeting your goals.

Keep in mind that your strategic plan is your roadmap to actualizing your mission out in the world. Use that plan as a tool to set you in the right direction and ensure that your nonprofit is sustainable well into the future.

This article is part of our Nonprofit Business Startup Guide—a curated list of articles to help you plan, start, and grow your nonprofit business!

Starting and running a nonprofit is richly rewarding in and of itself. As a passionate worker in a charitable organization, or someone who is planning to start one of these organizations, finding resources to help improve your nonprofit is bound to be on your mind.

It’s never a bad time to look into increasing the growth and positive impact of your nonprofit business, and these resources will help you do just that.

Building the foundation

Linkedin for Nonprofits 

Popular professional networking site Linkedin has a great resource section for nonprofits, covering recruiting techniques and tips for volunteers, employees, and board members.

Idealist.org

Idealist.org is a site that hosts job listings in the nonprofit sector and seeks to connect organizations with job candidates and potential volunteers. It also has extensive information on all of the core concepts related to nonprofit creation, structure, and governance.

The National Council of Nonprofits 

The National Council of Nonprofits manages a detailed blog broken into relevant sections with articles and resource lists. They provide in-depth information on core concepts of nonprofit governance, as well as up-to-date information on the state of the nonprofit sector and emerging trends.

The National Center for Charitable Statistics

Great for market research, the National Center for Charitable Statistics provides a wealth of information on nonprofits in the United States. You can find statistics organized by state and region, which will make the market research process easier.

The FAQ page is a great place to start, because it helpfully breaks their content into relevant categories for easy perusal.

Free tools and resources

The Foundation Center

The Foundation Center is a nonprofit that maintains the nation’s largest database of funding organizations, as well as free information on common grant application processes. You can also check out Grant Space, their online learning community for grant-seeking nonprofits.

Network for Good

Network for Good offers a free fundraising resource library, which includes courses, guides, webinars, and ebooks. For example, check out this ebook on maximizing the success of your organization’s events.

Read, listen, and connect

Hubspot’s Nonprofit Marketing Section

Hubspot is a trusted voice in marketing (we use several of their products here at Bplans) and their blog section on nonprofit marketing and SEO opportunities provides a wealth of information that will help you figure out the best way to market your nonprofit. Hubspot’s free ebook on inbound marketing for nonprofits is a good place to start.

Nonprofit Management Associations

New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service has a curated list of national nonprofit management associations that you can use to see which organizations would be a good fit for your nonprofit business to connect with or participate in.

Are you part of a nonprofit that has successfully used any of these resources? Any suggested additions for this list? Let us know in the comments!

This article is part of our Nonprofit Business Startup Guide—a curated list of articles to help you plan, start, and grow your nonprofit business!

A lot of work goes into making a nonprofit run smoothly, and a lot can go wrong. If you want to keep yours afloat, here are five mistakes you need to avoid.

There’s something immensely admirable about running a nonprofit; it stems from a desire to change the world for the better, and a willingness to devote oneself entirely to a charitable cause.

Unfortunately, good intentions do not a stable organization make. Business sense, logistical skill, and leadership capabilities do.

“New nonprofits face a number of significant challenges if they are to survive, and more importantly, have significant impact,” writes Wolfgang Bielefeld of Nonprofit Quarterly. “[Issues] are likely to include lack of visibility to the environment, confusion about structure, overconfident leadership, and shallow systems.”

In order to surmount those challenges and thrive, nonprofits both new and old must ensure they don’t fall into one of these five common traps encountered in their industry.

5 mistakes to avoid with your nonprofit:

1. Under-investing in fundraising

Fundraising is a nonprofit’s lifeblood. You need to engage in it as much as humanly possible.

That means, of course, that you need to devote a fair percentage of the money you raise through fundraising toward more fundraising.

It might seem counterintuitive—greedy, even. But failure to do this can lead to the slow, agonizing death of your organization. As a matter of fact, it’s the most common reason nonprofits tend to fail, according to Joe Garecht of The Fundraising Authority.

“The biggest fundraising mistakes nonprofits make is underinvesting in their fundraising operations,” says Joe Garecht. “It happens year in, year out, at thousands of organizations, and it leads to the slow and painful death (or worse, the frustrating stagnation) of hundreds of charities each year.”

“For most organizations, if they are spending as much of their fundraising revenue as possible on providing programs and services, that is a good thing,” he continues. “But when you dig down deeper, the true root cause is that many nonprofits don’t place enough value in their fundraising efforts, and don’t see their development operations as an investment, instead loathing the fundraising expenses they are ‘forced’ to incur.”

In short, don’t look at fundraising as an unnecessary expenditure. Look at it as something that is integral to the growth and success of your organization—because it is.

2. Hiring the wrong people (and then failing to manage them)

Just as with traditional businesses, a nonprofit can very easily fail if it employs the wrong people.

Unfortunately, with charitable organizations, this is a far more common practice than in large enterprises. Mostly, this is because of the mentality that a dollar spent on business operations is a dollar wasted; it’s money that could have been spent on one’s cause.

“Nonprofit employers face a unique set of challenges,” writes Siobhan Kelley of The Nonprofit Times. “They are always trying to do more with less—fewer staff members, less support, less funding. A combination of these practices can result in poor employment practices, even when one thinks they are doing the ‘right thing.’”

According to Siobhan Kelley, these employment mistakes fall into the following categories:

• Poor hiring practices: You should never hire someone just to fill a position. You can’t afford not to be picky.
• Lack of record keeping: How do you know if an employee is problematic without disciplinary records? How do you keep track of promising staff without performance records, or vacation without employment records?
• Opting for salaries instead of hourly wages: In most states, nonprofit employees must be paid an hourly wage unless they meet a very specific set of criteria. This is required by law.
• Not firing problem staffers: Nonprofit employees aren’t actually all that different from staff at for-profit organizations. If they cause consistent problems and create a toxic workplace, you need to show them the door.

3. Failure to manage the legal side

In a perfect world, you’d be able to focus entirely on raising money for your cause.

You’d make a difference without having to consider your region’s regulatory environment. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world.

If you want to avoid landing in legal hot water, advises Charity Lawyer’s Ellis Carter, you need to make sure you have proper, up-to-date governing documents in place.

You need to be aware of the laws governing nonprofits, and you need to be ready to properly manage potential conflicts of interest.  Most importantly, you need to be willing to step up and make difficult decisions.

4. Lacking a qualified leader (or giving a leader too much power)

Again, we need to stress here that a nonprofit is essentially a kind of business.

This means that without effective leadership, it will inevitably fail. You need to ensure you have a qualified set of executives who are willing to run things—but more importantly, you need to make sure they’re competent, and never have too much power.

“For a nonprofit organization with paid staff, once board members demand keys to the organization’s offices and start making direct demands on staff that report to the chief executive, the board has crossed the line,” says Ellis Carter. “The board’s key duties are to provide oversight and strategic direction, not to meddle in the organization’s day-to-day affairs.”

5. Missing out on marketing

Last but certainly not least, your nonprofit does not exist in a vacuum. If it’s to succeed, you need to make people aware of its existence. You need to market it.

I’m talking about maintaining a well-designed website, making effective use of social media, and establishing a brand identity over the course of your operations. I’m talking about treating nonprofit marketing just like you’d treat for-profit marketing.

And as with every other item on this list, you cannot afford to go cheap.

“When it comes to building a nonprofit website that’s fully functional and engaging, the question should not be, ‘How much does it cost?’ The question should be, ‘What’s the return on the investment?’” says Jay Wilkinson of Firespring.

“Your website has incredible potential and opportunity to increase donations, decrease expenses and printing costs, and engage with your audience in a meaningful way that connects them even tighter with your organization.”

Closing thoughts:

If anything, running a successful nonprofit is even more challenging than running a traditional business.

There’s so much more that can go wrong, and so many more misconceptions management must navigate around.

But the reward that comes at the end of it all is arguably well worth it—the knowledge that you’ve managed to make a difference in the world, and that you’ve managed to make it a better place.

While there is a small paid staff of seven people who help run the station—both part time and full time—the deejays are all volunteers. There’s also a small group of steadfast individuals, including community members, who help keep the station up and running.

In 2003, when Radio Boise was in its infancy and only just banding together as a team of like-minded individuals, it was known as the Boise Community Radio Project. It wasn’t until 2011 that the station actually went live on the FM airwaves.

Jessica Evett is the new general director, and Fredrick Wayne Birt is the program director who oversees the program proposals, training new programmers, helps curate underwriting production, and looks after general show quality at the station.

I’m one of the volunteer DJs, and I host a weekly radio show all about poetry called “The Poetry Show!” In addition to featuring interviews with local poets and other writers coming through town, I also read poems with background music providing ambience, and I curate audio recordings of poets reading their work as well.

Recently, I sat down with Birt—one of the original programmers of the station—and asked him to share some of the lessons he thinks the Radio Boise team has learned since the station has gone on the air.  Here are five things they learned from starting a community radio station.

The Radio Boise team

1. Volunteer organization is challenging

It’s kind of like herding cats. That is, you have to accept contributions in bite-size proportions.

Continuity is often obtained via chains of volunteers, as opposed to leaning heavily on individuals, for example.

That being said, the leadership team that makes up any organization is extremely important, and Radio Boise is no different.

Here are a few important management characteristics to remember:

Human leaders are more relatable than sterile, robotic management, so it’s important to be human and transparent, along with showing empathy and practicing good listening.

If volunteers feel as if they’re being communicated with in an honest, empathetic, and real manner, volunteer tasks are accomplished more smoothly and with more contagious enthusiasm. This is because individuals will feel as if they’re members of a family, as opposed to cogs in a machine.

2. People are collectively more generous than you could ever imagine.

Every six months we have “Radiothon” to deal with our biannual, ten-day fundraiser for station operating costs.

Programmers are asked to approach listeners and basically ask for money.

This can be a challenging feat, because the level of giving from one Radiothon to the next for any particular show can seem random and difficult to predict. However, it is always heartening to see the collective impact of all of Radio Boise’s listeners combined when they come together each spring and fall.

This collective generosity is not only observable in the listeners, but also in the comradery and general good spirits of the volunteers who come in to help answer the phones during Radiothon, as well as the programmers and station administrators, who give countless, largely-unpaid hours to the cause of good radio programming—both during Radiothon and throughout the year.

Composing an effective pitch requires not only inventiveness and energy, but a great deal of wackiness and fun in order to keep the momentum going.

All this extra work on the part of the programmers reveals the extent to which Radio Boise has effectively changed all of our lives. We’re willing to go to great lengths—for example, reading one’s high school diary live, on air—in order to reach our collective goals.

3. These things take time.

There is the constant of new people, every week.

Change and instability are inevitable. Don’t rely on everyone to be completely reliable and constant.

However, it is possible to get a lot accomplished if you remember the proverbial “two steps forward and one step back” rule.

Despite the gradual pace of the station’s progress in areas such as fundraising, local events, and promotion, the development of the Radio Boise community has felt a little like what it must have felt like to live on Alcatraz Island—that is, before the residents of the infamous island established trust and a connection with the inmates.

In a similar way, more mainstream and traditional radio listeners in Boise—who would usually listen to NPR or The River—have given Radio Boise a try and found something they liked in the programming.

Part of the reason behind this is that slowly, over time, KRBX has become well known as a broadcaster of a wide variety of music. Radio Boise has also proven to be open to suggestions and listener feedback.

4. If your cause is solid, it will succeed.

Part of the key to this is building the brand name of your radio station’s mission.

What is the goal of community radio?

One part is radio-related—that is, the technical requirements of obtaining a frequency under which to operate, finding a location from which to broadcast, etc.

The other part is the “community” aspect of community radio.

Does your station help build up the community around you?

Is it locally based?

Does it cover events in the community?

Does it offer involvement to members of the community in a transparent, earnest manner?

One way to involve audience members in a fun, dynamic manner is to post frequently on social media platforms.

Social media allows community members to contribute their input in a real-time format, that allows for both participation and additional listeners who might not have originally been aware of a particular show’s broadcast material or live coverage of a local show or festival—for example, when Radio Boise covers the annual Treefort Music Festival.

In addition to live broadcast coverage of the main stage acts, there are additional in-studio shows that are broadcast live—both on the FM airwaves and streaming live online—as an alternative method of accessing the festival for those members of the community who might be unable to attend in person.

One of the goodies you can buy to help support Radio Boise during Radiothon.

5. The key to momentum is constant positivity.

Many of us involved in community service and social movements are well aware that it’s of vital importance to find time to recharge and stay positive.

Of the many important characteristics of great community leaders, dedication, intelligence, and motivation are all qualities that are rechargeable, so to speak, via periodic vacations or trips to the mountains.

Self-care is crucial to maintaining the ability to give fully to those around you.

Whatever you need in order to maintain your momentum, whether it’s a trip to the Tetons or daily meditation, find something that restores your sense of peace and that helps you deal with stress in a healthy way.

In conclusion, there are many technical guides to starting a community radio station out there, but the more abstract aspects are just as crucial to getting and keeping your station off the proverbial ground.

With good people and a solid philosophy of community education, empowerment, and betterment of the public good, your small business or organization will be sure to thrive.

When I was a child, my family and the other families in our neighborhood held annual summer garage sales. It was a great way to get the community to work together, and of course weed out a little of the inevitable clutter.

For every yard sale, I’d buy bottled lemonade, bake several batches of cookies and brownies, and set up shop. A few minutes consideration, half a day’s preparation, and I was set to go. My business was in full swing.

Unfortunately, to set up a business larger than your local lemonade stand, you’ll have to do significantly more legwork. When it comes to starting your business, you can’t do what I did when I was eight and just hit the ground running. You’ll need to register your business name, and decide what method of doing so is best suited for your specific business needs.

When it comes to registering your business name, you have several options, which you can take advantage of together or separately.

The options for registering your business name include:

• Registering your business structure, and simply operating under that name
• Filing for a DBA
• Trademarking your business name

Read on to learn the ins and outs of each option, and determine which one is right for your business. I’ll go over the different requirements for registering the most common business structures, what a DBA is and how to know if you should file for one, and whether or not a trademark is right for your business.

How to register your business name:

1. Register your business structure

Potentially the most straightforward way to register your business name is to register your business structure at the state level. This will ensure that your business name is officially “yours” and that you can do business using that name.

To register your business name this way, you’ll need to register your business structure, such as a limited liability company (LLC) or a limited partnership (LP), a corporation, or a nonprofit. The steps for each type of registration are similar, but they do have slight differences, and will also differ by state.

Registering your LLC or LP:

The rules governing LLCs and LPs will vary state to state, so be sure to check your specific state regulations. However, you’ll generally have to complete the following steps:

1. Choose a name for your business that complies with your state’s rules. When registering an LLC, for example, your business name must include a term such as “L.L.C.,” “limited company,” or similar in the title.
2. File paperwork and pay fees. This generally includes writing what is called your “articles of organization,” which describes your business’s purpose, and your operating agreement. While an operating agreement isn’t required in all states, it’s always a good idea. Having one allows your business the opportunity to protect itself, and ensure that it is governed by its own rules (such as ownership percentages and management structure), as opposed to defaulting to the general rules set down by your state.
3. Publish a notice of intent. Some states require a notice of intent to form an LLC, but not all states will. Check your state regulations to find out if this step is necessary.
4. Acquire all necessary permits and licenses. Make sure you’ve gotten all the necessary permits and licenses required to run your business.

Registering your nonprofit:

As with an LLC or LP, the rules governing starting a nonprofit vary state to state, so be sure to check with your local secretary of state’s website for more detailed information. Or, when you’re finished reading, check out this guide which breaks down nonprofit resources by state.

1. File your articles of incorporation. These include basic information about your nonprofit—your name, what you do, where you plan to do business, and so on—and will usually be filed with your secretary of state website.
2. Apply for tax exempt status with the IRS. This can take some time—up to 12 months—so make sure to do this in a timely fashion. The application can be found on the IRS website.
3. Register with the specific states you plan to fundraise in. While the necessity of this registration will vary depending on your nonprofit, it can be especially tricky if you plan to do any fundraising via internet platforms, so make sure you take this one seriously. Go here for more information on how to register.

Registering your corporation:

As with LLCs, LPs, and nonprofits, forming a corporation involves several steps and a certain amount of paperwork, all of which will—you guessed it—vary state to state.

1. Choose a name that complies with your state’s regulations. As with an LLC, there are designations, such as including “Corp.,” “Corporation,” or similar in the title. And, naturally, it cannot be a name already in use by another business. Check with your local secretary of state’s office website for more information and state-specific regulations.
2. Decide on your board of directors. Depending on the state, you may be required to have multiple, or you may be allowed just one. Note that owners can be directors, but the directors do not necessarily have to be owners of the company.
3. File your articles of incorporation. As with a nonprofit, you’ll have to file your articles of incorporation. These include basics about your business, such as name, primary place that you plan to do business, and so on. There will also be a filing fee, which usually ranges from $100 to $800.

At this point, your corporation is registered. You’ll still need to establish bylaws, hold a meeting with your board of directors, issue shares, and obtain any permits or further registration you need to do business. For more information, read our complete guide to starting a corporation.

2. File a DBA (or “doing business as”)

If you have established your business structure at the state level, as we discussed above, you can legally do business under the name you registered with your secretary of state’s office.

But what if it doesn’t have the right ring to it?

We’ll use an example:

Kat is opening a boutique-style clothing store where she will be reselling vintage pieces. She registered her business as an LLC, and has registered the name, “Kat’s Vintage Resale, LLC.”

The trouble is, that pesky “LLC” doesn’t really fit her store’s branding, and she’d rather just do business under the name, “Kat’s Vintage Resale.” However, if all she does is register her business as an LLC, she is required to use the registered name in full. What should she do?

When to use a DBA:

In this situation, a business owner can apply for a DBA name, which stands for “doing business as.” Sometimes also referred to as a “fictitious name,” a DBA allows a business owner more freedom over what they call their business; as we saw in the example of Kat, a business owner can get a DBA in order to avoid doing business under their state registered name.

It’s also helpful for sole proprietors who do not wish to use their full name as the name for their business. For example, gardner Lance West is starting a landscaping business, but he doesn’t want to do business under the name, “Lance West,” but rather, “Landscaping by Lance.” He applies for a DBA, so that he can choose to use “Landscaping by Lance” as his business name, rather than his own full name, as would otherwise be required for a sole proprietorship.

How to apply for a DBA:

Applying for a DBA can be done through your secretary of state’s office website, or in some cases through your local county clerk’s office. The rules vary state to state, so make sure you find information specific to where you live.

In Oregon, for example, it is done via the Oregon Secretary of State website. Start the SBA’s state by state guide to applying for a DBA, or with your secretary of state site, and go from there, as each state will vary slightly.

3. Trademark your business

Finally, trademarking your business is another way to register your business name. You can register for both a state trademark and a national trademark, though it should be noted that it costs more and takes longer to trademark your business on a national level. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has information on both how to trademark your business at the state level as well as at the national level, which involves getting a federal trademark.

What’s the difference between a trade name and a trademark?

Your DBA will sometimes be referred to as your trade name; after all, it’s the name you established to do business (or “trade”) under. However, it’s not to be confused with a trademark, which is only valid if registered via the USPTO.

A trademark can also include colors, symbols, logos, and slogans, which are outside the realm of what is covered by a DBA. If you wish to protect not only your name, but also your visual elements related to your business and branding, you might consider a trademark.

Note, however, that registering a trademark comes with a price, literally: online trademark registration can cost between $200 and $300, so it’s significantly pricier than simply setting up a DBA, which will generally run you under $100.

Additionally, it’s harder to trademark any names that are fairly generic sounding—so in our example above, “Kat’s Vintage Resale” might be out of luck. However, if she were to pay a graphic designer to create a logo that included her name, unique color scheme, tagline, and other branding, she might be able to trademark that in its entirety, where the name alone would not be enough to trademark.

Which one is right for you?

As you can see, the various ways you can register your business name will depend on your business situation.

If you are in the process of setting up a particular business structure, you may end up registering a business name by default that you wish to stick with. Depending on the context, keeping the distinction of “LLC.,” “Corporation,” and so on in your business name may not be a negative at all.

A DBA is a good route if you are a sole proprietor and don’t wish to do business under your full name, or if you’d rather not use the name you picked when setting up your business structure.

And, if you want to protect your business’s intellectual property on a state or national level, a trademark might be the way to go. Remember, however, that in order to trademark your business name, it must include elements unique enough to be worthy of a trademark in the first place, so not all businesses will meet that criteria.

How did you go about registering your business name? Did you combine strategies, or simply go with the name under which you registered your business structure?