Fundraising for a cause is similar across man y types of organizations. An organization must have a fundraising committee that decides how much money needs to be raised, what types of fundraisers will take place, what the fundraiser will be called and how the raised funds will be used. There are, of course, thousands of fundraising causes, ranging from large non-profit organizations like The American Cancer Society, The National Diabetes Association, March of Dimes, etc., to smaller non-profit foundations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which raises money for breast cancer. All of these non-profit, charitable organizations are raising money for worthy causes and have dedicated staffs and volunteers to carry out their mission of raising funds to support their causes.
A non-profit is exempt from income tax and can receive tax-deductible charitable contributions to support their cause. In order to start a non-profit corporation, a 501(c)(3) must be established, because in order to qualify for tax-exempt status, a non-profit organization has to support some issue or matter of public interest like the arts, education, religion, research, etc. To so qualify, a non-profit organization must have a short mission statement that expresses what the organization does, for whom, and where. This statement should be used on all material that the organization publishes to solicit donations for their cause. The organization also needs to appoint a board of directors, and file Articles of Incorporation, including an official statement of the organization’s cause, which must be filed with a state agency. In order to meet these and other requirements, it is in an organization’s best interest to contact an attorney. Many attorneys donate their time to potential charitable organizations, significantly cutting the cost of forming a non-profit.
