Are you thinking of starting a non-profit in 2022? In this video I'm going to share my top
tips for those of you considering launching a non-profit organization this year. Welcome
or welcome back to my channel! My name is Amber Melanie Smith and I am a non-profit
founder and executive director of the nonprofit that I started and I love making these videos here
on YouTube to help others with their social impact journeys - whether that's starting a non-profit,
leading fundraisers for your favorite cause or what have you. I hope that you find this video
helpful. I've got dozens more on these topics so please go ahead and check out those other videos
and subscribe to my channel for more content like this. Also be sure of course to check out my
website, FounderToFullTime.com for some training opportunities for folks starting non-profits and
developing sustainable fundraising plans. Okay let's get into our topic! For the past few years,
i've done compilations of my best advice for that year for folks thinking of starting a non-profit
check out my other videos from 2020 and 2021 if you're interested in those as well i base
these videos of course on my own observations and experiences in the world what i'm seeing out there
what i'm what i'm doing with my own organization with other non-profits that i see in action out
in my community and around the country and the world but i also want to share that these tips
and the advice i'm going to share with you are based on a lot of the insights and research from
non-profit experts and institutions who are specifically out there studying the nonprofit
sector and the trends that are affecting it and of course if you have started a non-profit you're
already into this process share your experiences too share in the comments what are you seeing
out there what trends and patterns are emerging where you are share that help out the folks in
our little change maker community okay let's go here are my six top pieces of advice for
people starting a non-profit organization in 2022 my first piece of advice would honestly be
relevant in any recent year but especially this year because things are just evolving
at such a rapid pace and this piece of device is please learn teach yourself all of the technology
that you possibly can and if you just can't if you just don't have it in you please try to find one
or ideally several people who are very very tech savvy and who can really support your organization
as it is getting off the ground in 2022 a well-designed mobile-friendly website and social
media savvy on a variety of platforms is kind of the bare minimum for any business or organization
so if you're going to start a non-profit you may as well start off on the right foot with
technology this is especially important because as new donors and new generations of supporters
are getting older and looking to get involved with causes that they care about they're going to look
for these causes to engage with them in the ways that they are already used to couple that with
the fact that we're still dealing with elements of the kovid 19 pandemic technology use has been
on the rise already over the past couple of years and is probably not going away anytime soon okay
so if you're starting a non-profit and you're not already someone who's extremely tech savvy what
are some of the top things that you might want to invest some learning and self-education on
as i mentioned before basic website design and maintenance is key social media engagement is key
but you're also looking at needing to be proficient in using online and virtual meeting
software things like zoom or google hangouts or any of the other plethora of platforms out there
available for online meetings other things though include communicating with supporters
in ways outside of email such as messaging platforms or even via text creating and editing
videos is becoming more and more important for great storytelling and fundraising effectiveness
digital fundraising and donation platforms live streaming and a bunch more okay my second
piece of advice for folks starting a non-profit in 2022 is to find intentional meaningful ways
to include those impacted by your mission in your mission so i hear from lots of people who
are thinking of starting a non-profit and perhaps they have come up with an idea for an organization
or a mission or perhaps have collaborated with some other people that they know in order to come
up with the concept for the organization that they want to start in some cases these people
have first-hand experience with the community issue or the problem that their non-profit aims
to tackle but in many cases they are just guessing at what the people impacted by the problem could
be experiencing but if you have personally not experienced some of these issues being tackled by
nonprofits or perhaps the nonprofit that you hope to start perhaps issues like food insecurity or
home or houselessness or access to education then it's really critical that you find an opportunity
for the people who are directly impacted who have the lived experiences of these things to
be involved in your organization at its beginning so what does it look like to be inclusive of these
people who might have the lived experiences with the issues that you're trying to tackle
examples could include inviting them to serve on your board of directors engaging them in
focus groups or collecting feedback on their experiences and getting their help writing a
business plan and of course keeping them engaged as equal and and meaningful stakeholders along
the way doing this is not just the right thing to do but it also will make sure that your programs
and solutions to the problems that you're trying to tackle through your nonprofit
are designed really effectively and are going to actually meet the needs of those being served
and obviously the consequences of not doing it are possibly less effective programs but also
potentially lost funding opportunities as more and more funders look to organizations to be inclusive
of the people affected by the problems in the community that those organizations are trying to
solve the third piece of advice for people who are thinking of or are starting a non-profit in 2022
is to create a plan to engage volunteers in your organization's mission and operations from
the very beginning of your business planning for the organization inviting people from the
community to volunteer with your cause has so many benefits and some are beyond the obvious benefits
the obvious benefit is of course that you have people with a variety of talents
giving their time generously to complete activities for your cause and moving it
forward in a meaningful way hopefully there are two other benefits that people don't tend to think
of right off the bat when they think of engaging volunteers the first is that volunteers are one of
your best marketing tools volunteers are much more likely to share their wonderful
experiences with your organization with their friends and invite other people to get involved
so word of mouth is critical in fact nearly half of all new volunteers new people who get involved
with a non-profit organization do so because somebody they know invited them to do it or asked
them to do it so word of mouth is really important even in today's digital age and the second
important reason to engage volunteers that is not necessarily intuitive for everyone is that
more volunteers equals more potential donors more fundraising success the reason for that
is that volunteers like to donate financially to the organizations that they are volunteering for
you might think this is counterintuitive after all they're already generously giving their time
surely they wouldn't also want to generously give their money but the opposite is in fact
true and this makes sense when you think about it because you're more likely to support a cause or
an organization once you have established a bond a relationship and some sense of trust with that
organization you know what they're about you know what things are like behind the scenes so you're
more likely to donate i think it makes sense and the latest global trends and giving report
even cited that as many as 85 of volunteers donate to the causes they are working with
the fourth piece of advice i will offer up folks who are thinking of starting a non-profit in 2022
is to become familiar with local state and federal government funding opportunities that might exist
out there in the united states at least 2020 and 2021 saw an increase in the available
government funding opportunities available for non-profit organizations now quick disclaimer
we have no idea if this trend is going to continue many years into the future so
take this for what it's worth and also not all non-profits are going to necessarily be a good fit
for government funding opportunities but i really think it's a smart idea for non-profit leaders to
know all of the potential funding opportunities out there and to just research this one to
keep your finger on the pulse so to speak on if opportunities arise that could be a good
fit for you and also note that government grants and government funding opportunities are often
reserved for organizations that have a couple of years and a bit of experience under their belts
already but if you know about these opportunities early on when you're just getting started
and can become good at some of the things you'll need to be good at in order to apply for and
successfully get such a grant then you can kind of start now to plan out your future if government
funding could be a good fit for you so what are some of the specific things you need to learn when
understanding government grants well we're talking about knowing how to evaluate the success
of your nonprofits programs so understanding the difference between outputs and outcomes
knowing how to develop accurate program evaluation systems and feedback surveys and other mechanisms
to collect data and then of course the big part of government grants is the financial component
you've really got to have some clean tight accounting processes so you've got to know
your non-profit accounting stuff and be able to pass an audit with ease the fifth piece of
advice i will offer up is to learn how to showcase your organization's impacts really really well
through both data and storytelling so the upcoming generations of donors and i'm mostly talking about
millennials and generation z are less likely to view their financial contributions to nonprofits
as gifts and more likely to view them as investments in an initiative for which they expect
a social good return that means understandably that they expect results they are looking to see
how the donations that they make are resulting in needs being met and problems being solved and
the needle being moved on big social issues that they care about so to cultivate these donors and
grow your donor base as these generations become the primary donors of the future
you have to get really really good at showcasing what impact directly you're having on people's
lives and on the communities that you serve i mentioned this in the previous piece of advice but
you want to get really good at program evaluation and that means evaluating how effectively
your non-profits programs are actually addressing the needs of the community if they are meeting the
mission like you think that it is so it's the actual data that backs it up and of course you
also want to get really good at storytelling the um art and science of telling good stories that
inspire people and evoke emotions so they will feel like giving and then of course the tools to
share those stories with video being probably the top tool that people are looking to now
to consume those impact stories and the sixth and final piece of device that i will share for people
thinking of or already starting a non-profit for 2022 is this please please please please please
take care of yourself throughout this process i've met so many people who've unfortunately
underestimated the time and resources and sometimes money that it can take to effectively
start a non-profit organization and this leads them to early burnout and discouragement it's
important to stay enthusiastic and passionate while also managing your expectations it can
take at least a year and often multiple years for an organization's budget to grow to the
point where it can afford to hire staff so my best advice is to think about the here and now
and to assess your personal needs your schedule your availability and just ask yourself how many
hours per week can you meaningfully devote to the process of starting a non-profit right now
a process that involves paperwork and filing and paying the filing fees and possibly talking to
lawyers and developing a business plan and a marketing plan and a program evaluation system
and feedback surveys and all that good stuff is it one hour a week is it five hours a week
10 hours a week 20 hours 40 hours a week whatever the number is there's no wrong right answer just
be honest with yourself and then plot out your time based on that and be patient with the world
and yourself throughout the process this in my opinion is not um
it's not lowering the bar it's not giving up it is managing your time really effectively so that you
can make progress in a focused way without burning yourself early burning yourself out early it's
something i wish i'd done and so i wish it for you so are you thinking of starting a non-profit
in 2022 where are you in the process i'd love to hear about it share in the comments below
and as i mentioned before if you are starting a non-profit or developing a fundraising plan check
out my website FounderToFulltime.com for some trainings and resources a couple other things that
i want to mention i have a newsletter that i send out about monthly um sometimes more if there's
some cool stuff going on for non-profit leaders and change makers this includes opportunities you
know sometimes i'll come across some cool funding opportunities coming up or other things going on
or articles that will help you stay on top of the trends if you're interested in receiving
that and of course you can opt out any time the link to subscribe is in the description below
and finally if you happen to be on Facebook - I'm sorry, Meta - I now have a group called Change the
World or Bust. We've got a couple thousand people in there from around the world it's really kind of
awesome who are all interested in making a social impact sometimes that's starting a non-profit or
social enterprise organization or just doing a single project to help other folks whatever
the way you want to make an impact is you are welcome in that group so come on by check it out
and i hope to see you there that's all i have for today i hope to see you next year. Happy new year!
Oh my gosh, I just said next year - no it's 2022! Too soon! All right I hope to see you later - bye!