Business

If you want to start a nonprofit, you'll need to research and fine-tune your idea, get feedback from the right sources, and take concrete steps to start your charity on a solid foundation.

A nonprofit organization is a business that has been granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because it furthers a social cause and provides a public benefit. Donations made to a nonprofit organization are typically tax-deductible to individuals and businesses that make them, and the nonprofit itself pays no tax on the received donations or on any other money earned through fundraising activities. Nonprofit organizations are sometimes called NPOs or 501(c)(3) organizations based on the section of the tax code that permits them to operate.1

Nonprofit corporations are those corporations whose members or shareholders may not receive any of the pecuniary [monetary] profits of the corporation. A nonprofit corporation may be formed for any lawful purpose or purposes, including, but not limited to: athletic; any lawful business purpose to be conducted on a not-for-profit basis; beneficial; benevolent; cemetery; charitable; civic; control of fire; cultural; educational; encouragement of agriculture or horticulture; fraternal; health; literary; missionary; musical; mutual improvement; patriotic; political; prevention of cruelty to persons or animals; professional, commercial, industrial, trade, service or business associations; promotion of the arts; protection of natural resources; religious; research; scientific and social. A nonprofit corporation must be able to fulfill its purpose without financial benefit to its members, director or officers, except as salaries and expenses.