Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`m thinking of starting a non-profit organization based in AZ. to assist me in providing law enforcement training for countries overseas who do not have budgets for training.  I have been working for profit since my retirement from federal law enforcement, but these jobs are far and few between.  As a non-profit, I could apply for grants and also receive more consideration for training projects.  One of the biggest barriers in poorer countries is corrupt law enforcement.  More training dollars would go a long ways to helping these countries.
Any advice on how to proceed?  Any pitfalls to watch out for?
Thanks.



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Tom Kelly

Hey Tom,

The biggest advice I can give is to get in touch with TACS (www.tacs.org) and SCORE (www.score.org) both are great resources for information on starting a non-profit. The other thing...make sure you do things by the book. Someone from this site once helped me understand the truths behind starting a non-profit and what is required of us in society. We are held to a bit higher standard and it is VERY easy to slip up in the non-profit world. It is amazing how the tiny things are scrutinized sooooooooo much harder with non-profits...just make sure you have all your i`s dotted and t`s crossed! And please feel free to drop me a line if I can help in anyway! A lot of other non-profits have helped me get to where I am...so I am more than happy to pass on that support to others!

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Leah Tucker

You should probably make sure that there is a real benefit in being a non-profit.  If you are careful how and where you structure your corporation, you can get many of the tax advantages you`d have with a non-profit without the extra trouble of being non-profit.

It sounds like you might be able to get some grants as a non-profit that you wouldn`t be able to get as a for-profit corporation.  If so that might be a good reason to go the non-profit route, but I`ve seen a lot of plans that were based on getting grants that never materialized.

I don`t know if this would be of any help but in Ann Arbor, MI we have a non-profit resource organization: http://www.new.org/

They might have articles and information which can address non-profit questions.

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Nicole Champagne
Email: influencialexpectations@gmail.com
Cell: (734) 262-3730
Soar With Influencial Expectations!

Hi everyone, thanks for your post. At Transpanish we offer exclusive discounts for Non-profit organizations. If you are interested, take a look at http://www.transpanish.biz/en/nonprofit-discounts.html

 

Best of luck!

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