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I want to start a local literacy nonprofit organization, but I have little time and money? What can I do to take small steps to that goal?

What can I do to turn this into my career?
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Marked as Best! December 01, 2009 08:52 PM
It's usually easier to join an existing organization and volunteer than to start your own nonprofit, at least when you are just getting started. Forming your own nonprofit can take a lot of time and some money to get started. One thing that all nonprofits have is a good board so it might be important for you to think about the types of people you'd like with you as you start this adventure. Have you read "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World" by John Wood? He's the founder of Room to Read and his foray into the world of nonprofit might inform your own. Good luck! http://www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com/
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December 01, 2009 09:36 PM
Thanks for the tip about the book, I will check it out.

The reason I want to start my own is that I want to do my own take on this, teaching people about reading in a relaxed social environment through games.
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December 02, 2009 11:11 AM
Game text is still a little advanced for the non reading adults I have worked with. Study techniques with a local Christian organization and learn how to teach adults, if that is your dream, then start with those that already know how to do it and then progress from there.

One way you can form a non profit organization is to become ordained yourself.
These might be something you can look into further.
Literacy is a terrible crime. What a waste to see adults and children that have slipped through the cracks and can not read.
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April 25, 2011 12:38 PM
First of all, congrats on getting your group started! Taking the first steps of forming a group can always be a trying process... kudos for giving it a go!

One of the first things can really help getting started is finding ways to get organized early on. Coming up with the tools to manage your members, plan your events and get the word out about everything you do can be tricky.

I'd say the best way to get a jump on this: set up a group home page on a fundraising website. Many of them are free to use and can offer new groups amazing tools to organize, find new volunteers and raise awareness for a cause (regardless of whether you actually want to fundraise). Some require that you have non-profit status to form a group, but plenty others will give student groups, church groups and other groups without non-profit status some awesome ways to help get your group off the ground.

For example, one good site to help new groups is GroupSpaces (www.groupspaces.com). They offer plenty of tools to help get groups off the ground, including some event management functions that let you create events, as well as managing your members. And if you're interested in fundraising for your group eventually, they can link to your account and charge 2.5% of donations received (while some other sites charge as much as 5%).

Another good option would be Empowered.org (www.empowered.org). It is a bit newer than GroupSpaces and their platform is geared more towards social action, but are open to all small groups, regardless of non-profit status. Also, they offer plenty of solid tools to help new groups, and give groups the ability to create specific volunteer activities and events for each group (which GroupSpaces doesn't do). And if you ever were interested in fundraising, they offer specific fundraising campaigns (and charge 1.5% of donations) - nice if you ever go down that road.

There are some other sites worth looking into - MeetUp is another one that helps groups, but doesn't offer as many tools as the other two I mentioned. Anyways, I really think that setting a home would really help jump start the group-starting process.

Hope that helps! Good luck with your group going forward.
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