Should you start a non-profit during a pandemic? Let's discuss. Hi! Welcome back! I
hope that you are healthy and safe. This is my first video in a while because,
well you know. everything. I've been really excited to get some of your
comments about some of the work that you're doing out there to change the
world and some of you who are even interested in starting your own
nonprofit organization. So really wanted to tackle this question because I've
seen this one too - Should you start a non-profit in this time, during a
pandemic or in this economy? What are the pros and the cons? Is it a good idea? What
are you gonna be facing? Real quick though if this is your first time to my
channel my name is Amber Melanie Smith! I am a nonprofit founder and active
executive director of a nonprofit in my hometown and I also make these videos
here on YouTube to help aspiring changemakers with tips and strategies to
help you change the world and live a life of purpose and impact. Quick
reminder if this video helps you out or if you just like it please go ahead and
give me a thumbs up and share with your friends - and also hit that subscribe
button because I'm trying to get back into making these videos more regularly
for you. So let's jump right in I'm gonna talk through the pros and the cons of
starting a non-profit during a pandemic and hopefully this information will help
you think through if this is a good time for you to do some great work on that
cause you've been thinking of or if there might even be some other ways that
you can make an impact without having to go through the legal stuff and all that
paperwork involved in starting a actual non-profit okay so first the pros and by
pros I mean reasons it might be a good idea to start a non-profit during a
pandemic the first one is pretty obvious and straightforward and that is that
there are simply a lot of needs out there there are so many people
struggling to put food on their table to pay their bills to get medical support
there's a lot of needs and so the idea of more people just in general helping
each other is not a bad one the second reason it might be a good idea to
a nonprofit during this period fund during a pandemic is that if you are in
a stable financial position you might actually find yourself with a little bit
more free time right now big disclaimer this does not apply to everyone
those of you who have kids or are also studying in school there's so much for
you to do I'm and I'm I'm just so sorry I'm so sorry and there's this whole
other discussion to be had about these power dynamics behind who is in a
position to start a non-profit right now and then that's a whole interesting
conversation that maybe we'll save for another time but point being this isn't
gonna be for everyone right now a third Pro to starting a nonprofit during at
least this kind of pandemic is that you might find more people with time on
their hands to volunteer to support the cause and they might have an extra fire
in their bellies to be supporting a cause the reasons for this are of course
unfortunate and that is least in my world many people I know who are
volunteering more than they normally would is because they're unemployed but
volunteering at least gives them a sense of meaning and a way to connect and a
way to contribute in a time when kind of feels like the world has punched them in
the face I know personally my organization is basically all about
mobilizing volunteers to help out in the community and we were able to get some
volunteers together to safely while practicing social distancing basically
prepare hot spots Wi-Fi hot spots so that kids without access to the Internet
in our County would be able to access the Internet so they could do the remote
learning that the schools are asking them to do and the volunteers that we
were able to recruit we launched signups and then two days later the volunteer
signups were completely full because people were just so eager to get out of
a house do something productive and meaningful and feel like they have some
sort of control over this crazy situation one lady I met the other day
she was amazing she actually came up to me during this volunteer experience
and while standing at least 6 feet away told me that she actually felt like we
were helping her more by allowing her to volunteer then she was helping us by
volunteering and that just blew my mind because the argument she was making was
she needed to get out of the house needed to feel like she was contributing
to society and we gave her an opportunity to do that and to make a big
impact and I think at their core people just really want to make an impact and
feel connected to the world and each other and so give them the opportunity
if you can through supporting the cause the fourth Pro to starting a nonprofit
during a pandemic is that if and this is a big if you can manage to get together
the financial support to do the paperwork with the IRS and get that
official tax-exempt charitable status for your organization that right now
people are being more incentivized to donate money and I don't just mean
because they see how many problems we have and they want to help though that
is also true there are some great programs coming out to incentivize
giving a friend of mine started the super cool website called pledge my
check you should check that out pledge my check it swear if you're in a stable
position and you don't need the stimulus check that American citizens are are
getting and are going to get over the next couple of weeks then maybe consider
donating it either to a cause that you care about or a small business in your
community that you are passionate about that is struggling right now but the
other thing is that the newly passed cares Act also provides tax incentives
to donate right now - so hopefully that will encourage more people to give money
this year okay so those are the four pros of starting a non-profit during a
pandemic now let's cover the cons the first con is a big one and that is of
course the cost if you are talking about starting an actual legal federally
approved 501c3 tax-exempt public charity then there is a cost to do that and I
talked a little bit more about in some of my other videos so be sure to
check those out but basically you have a fee that you pay to the IRS to file your
paperwork you might also have legal fees and then of course it's a good idea
depending on your state to incorporate in your specific state as well and that
could also carry a fee and those are just the paperwork cost there are also
other costs you might face in starting up like website hosting or software for
depending on what you're trying to do or even material costs depending on what
your organization would be doing food clothing for the people you're trying to
serve you never know if you're gonna get things donated or not especially in a
time like this so there could be if you're not in a
good financially stable position quite a cost to starting a non-profit right now
the other part of this is and I disclaim where I'm not a hundred percent sure
this is true but logically it seems like it might be an issue is given all of the
extra burden on the federal government for having to deal with some other
issues during a pandemic it is possible you might see some delays in filing your
paperwork with the IRS could take months to get your approval status back the
second big con to starting a non-profit during a pandemic is the competition for
funding I know in my community I am a part of various conversations with
funders and other nonprofits whose funders are talking to them as well and
the big conversation that major philanthropists in our area is having is
where can we put our dollars where they're gonna make the most impact in
the most urgent needs right now and by that they typically mean things like
hunger education housing and health the other side of that is that many
nonprofits might not make it through this at all and I'm talking about
existing nonprofits so there's this whole other conversation in the world of
philanthropy about how to save as many existing nonprofits as possible so I can
imagine that it would be unlikely for one of these donors or foundation
or companies to want to support a brand-new effort when there are all
these organizations that they already have a relationship with who are
suffering greatly and might be a risk of having their clothes their doors if they
don't get the support first so there could be quite a lot of competition for
any funding whatsoever right now if you start a new nonprofit organization the
third con is that even smaller donation pools are shrinking and that is for
obvious reasons the pandemic that we are facing right now with coronavirus has of
course led to many people being laid off from their jobs and that means fewer
people who have any money whatsoever to donate outside of their own household to
anyone else to any cause or even small business they would care about and
similar to big philanthropists donors who give on a smaller or medium level
are also prioritizing organizations they already have relationships with and
might be less likely to support a brand new organization the fourth con of
starting a non-profit during a pandemic is that infrastructure might be kind of
difficult to put in place right now of course this largely depends on the kind
of organization and the mission of that organization that you'd be trying to
start but if you are starting an organization that relies on certain
types of equipment or materials or supplies those supply chains might be
disrupted or it might be very difficult to acquire the specific items that you
need right now there's also an ethical argument to be had that maybe you
shouldn't be trying to acquire those supplies right now if other
organizations that already have the infrastructure put in place need them
faster and more urgently than you v con of starting a non-profit during a
pandemic is let's say you have more time right now and you are able to start this
nonprofit well what do you do in the long term if things return to any
semblance of normal do you still have time in the long term so long term
planning and how it can be very difficult to do right now is v con of
starting a non-profit during a pandemic the truth is that nonprofits are very
hard work even if you are small even if you don't have any
staff nonprofits are very very hard work I know that many nonprofits I've worked
with have folded within a couple of years and I know many that lasted quite
a long time but caused a lot of burnout and heartache for people involved so if
you're going to start a non-profit whether during a pandemic or not just
make sure you're in it for the long haul and that you have the ability and the
resources to be able to set up an infrastructure around it that will keep
it sustainable and the six kind of con of starting a non-profit during a
pandemic is you don't really need to if your goal is to make an impact you can
do that without starting a brand new nonprofit in fact there are so many
organizations out there that would really love your help your time your
dollars anything that you have to offer your talents right now to help with
their existing issues they have great infrastructure in place in many cases
they just need the resources to be able to keep things going and to avoid
bottlenecks in serving the people that they're trying to serve urgently during
a pandemic a couple ways that you can help out the community without starting
a brand new nonprofit during a pandemic are of course volunteer if you can't
volunteer safely out of the home there are actually a lot of ways that you can
volunteer remotely or virtually or digitally using a computer or even just
materials that you might have around the house you can start a special project
just like my friend did who started pledge my check to raise money for
nonprofits in need who are serving those most vulnerable in our communities you
could even rally your friends or your neighbors to just check on each other
and see how they're doing right now and make sure that everyone in your
immediate circle is getting their needs met whether that's an extra roll of
toilet paper or a hot meal so having to weigh the pros and the cons I think that
I would lean towards the con side so that means that there appear to be more
cons than pros to starting a new nonprofit organization during a pandemic
but don't let that discourage you if you just have a heart for this war
and want to make an impact I recommend you start small you start by doing your
research doing your volunteering and you can always start a non-profit later when
the world becomes a little bit easier to manage a new nonprofit in there we go
thank you so much for watching once again my name is Amber Melanie Smith and
I'm a nonprofit founder and executive director and maker of these videos to
help aspiring changemakers once again don't forget to give it a like and
subscribe and if you happen to be on Facebook go on and check out my group
change the world or bust where me and other changemakers are having
conversations regularly about the amazing work that we're all doing and
how we can support each other thanks again see you next time