At face value, many may find nonprofits to be quite simple. Due to its name, many think that they are simply an organization that cannot make a profit from what they sell and do. However, both the structure and how nonprofit organizations are created are not simple at all. On average, it can take up to a year and sometimes more for an organization to fill out the forms required to become a certified nonprofit organization and several months for those forms to then be processed.
So, while at face value nonprofits may seem like a rather simple concept, working behind the scenes to get them up and running is not for the faint of heart. As well, to continue to run them and ensure the mission of the nonprofit is being accomplished is a whole other battle. However, that is a conversation for another time.
Today, as I begin to try and illustrate the sheer complexity that it takes to establish a nonprofit, I first want to address a few of the varying types of nonprofits. Out of the roughly 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. the most common type of nonprofits are 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. However, that is not the only type of classification as there are over 27 different ways in which nonprofits are categorized in the U.S.
When these categorizations are determined you must keep in the mind the requirements it takes to be a certain organization as well as the complications that come with each. Not only to reach the set categorized organization you will have to fill out different forms and meet certain requirements that also can differ from state to state. So as you can see when creating a nonprofit requires a great understanding of how the whole system works to get one started and set the right qualifications. Many organizations have to bring in legal support to ensure everything is done correctly to ensure they can complete the task they first set out to do.
I think all of this is today that when you think of nonprofits I would be sure to keep in mind that the work that they do goes far beyond the surface level so the support that get should too. They set out to tackle such unique circumstances and have to balance both social equity and regular business complications as well. So as I continue to grow my own knowledge of nonprofit I encourage you to do as well. there is so much to still learn about how we can better use nonprofits to continue to help change out world for the better.