The Last Virtual Volunteering
Guidebook available for
purchase as a paperback & an ebook.
A free resource for nonprofit
organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based
agencies
by Jayne Cravens
More resources at coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same
web site)
Starting a Nonprofit or Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO)
(or starting a foundation, a charity, a
community-based organization, etc.)
The laws and procedures for starting a nonprofit organization, a
non-governmental organization (NGO), a charity or a foundation vary from
country to country. The laws and procedures are never exactly the same.
Later on this page is a list of web sites for various countries
regarding how to start a nonprofit organization, NGO, etc.
If your country is not listed
- Search the International
Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Search just by the country name.
For instance, type in Kenya, and you will get a list of
documents produced by the center or submitted to the center's knowledge
base. Read through the documents and you should be able to find the name
of the federal office that regulates nonprofit organizations in that
specific country.
- Go to Google and type in your
country's name and the phrase starting an NGO
- Go to your city government offices and ask for the paperwork for
starting an NGO in your country.
No matter what country you want to register in, before you file any
paperwork, you first need a business plan, in writing, that
answers these questions:
- What services will this organization provide?
- What statistics and testimonials do you have that prove this
organization is needed AND wanted? How did you gather those statistics
and testimonials?
- What programs will you launch first, and which will launch
later, in a year or two? What data do you have that shows you are
prioritizing your initial programming correctly?
- How do you envision the staffing for your initial programs –
by volunteers? If so, what tasks might these volunteers do? Could the
tasks be divided into different roles: leadership roles, one-time group
activities, short-term individual roles, online volunteering, university
classwork, etc.? What might the costs be to involve such volunteers
(recruitment, screening, support, etc.)? Or will these initial programs
be staffed by paid employees or consultants? If so, what might these
roles look and what would the costs be?
- What will the decision-making and leadership of your program
look like? How will the board of directors be chosen? How long will each
member serve? How will their fiscal responsibilities and other oversight
responsibilities be defined? Will there also be an advisory board?
- Will the organization charge for services? If so, how much
and how will prices be determined?
- What will these services achieve? What will success look like? How
will you prove those achievements?
- How much will providing these services costs -- rental space,
computer, registration as a nonprofit with the federal and state, paying
staff or consultants, equipment, etc.?
- What will you do in terms of programming without your own physical
space? Before you get your own building or office, how will you
leverage church or mosque or temple fellowship halls, library meeting
rooms, cultural centers, arts spaces and other existing facilities to
offer your programming until you get a physical space of your own?
- How will the organization account for donations, income
earned and expenses?
- What will be done to protect your clients, volunteers, staff members
and others from exploitation of any kind?
- What will you do to ensure your organization is free from corruption
and mismanagement, beyond just promises and assurances?
Altogether, the answers to these questions create both a business plan and
all of the information a group needs for a funding proposal. All of these
activities create a cultural center without anything having to wait for a
building to be built or a rented and, at the same time, make funding an
actual building all the more attractive.
After you have written this business plan, you recruit a board of
directors -- people over 18 who are willing to be fiscally and legally
responsible for your organization, willing to provide some of the start up
costs (even a token amount), and willing to put their reputations on the
line to say this organization should exist. Then you file your official
paperwork with the correct government body. Also, open a bank account in
the name of your nonprofit business.
USA
Australia
Canada
England and Wales
India
Ireland
Japan
Mexico
Scotland
South Africa
No matter what country you are in:
- The Global Development Research
Center, an independent nonprofit think tank that carries out
initiatives in education, research and practice, in the spheres of
environment, urban, community and information, and at scales that are
effective. Its NGO Management Toolbox includes a section on NGO
Accountability and on NGO
Credibility and Legitimacy.
- Have a look at this free NGO
Capacity Assessment Tool. It can be used to identify an
NGO’s or nonprofit's strengths and weaknesses and help to establish a
unified, coherent vision of what an NGO can be. The tool provides a
step-by-step way to map where an organization is and can help those
working with the NGO or nonprofit, including consultants, board members,
employees, volunteers, clients, and others, to decide which functional
areas need to be strengthened and how to go about to strengthen them.
The tool was compiled by Europe Foundation (EPF) in the country of
Georgia, and is based on various resources, including USAID – an NGO
Capacity Assessment Supporting Tool from USAID (2000), the NGO
Sustainability Index 2004-2008, the Civil Society Index (2009) from
CIVICUS, and Peace Corps/Slovakia NGO Characteristics Assessment for
Recommended Development (NGO CARD) 1996-1997.
- TrustLaw, an
initiative of the Thomas Reuter Foundation, has a Legal
Health Check to help NGOS & social enterprises to identify
some of their operational legal needs, like governance, finance and
regulatory compliance regarding fundraising, intellectual property,
human resources management, volunteer engagement and more. It also lists
the questions your NGO needs to ask itself regarding its collection,
handling and storing of personal information in compliance with data
protection and privacy laws, website terms and conditions, social media
(e.g. Facebook, Twitter) policies, limiting risk of libel/defamation and
ownership of software or an app. These general questions are designed to
help you work out whether you need to consider a particular legal area
in more detail. TrustLaw is a free service. NGOs and social enterprises
can request free legal support, and lawyers can volunteer to work on
projects that interest them - but to get that free support, the NGO
or social enterprise must become a members. "All organizations
that apply for TrustLaw membership must have a clear social mission that
states: who they aim to help; how they plan to do it; the impact they
are trying to achieve; and how they will measure this impact."
Also see:
- First
Steps in a Nonprofit Dream
The first step is not getting an office or building. The first step is
not trying to get donations. The first step is not building a web site.
- Basic Fund-Raising for Small NGOs
serving the developing world
This free document offered via the Coyote Communications web site
provides very basic guidelines for small NGOs in the developing
world regarding fund-raising, and points to other online resources. By
small NGOs, I mean organizations that may have only one paid staff
member, or are run entirely by volunteers; and may not have official
recognition by the government, and by the developing world, I mean
organizations in Africa, parts of Asia, parts of Central and South
America, and Eastern Europe. This document will not be helpful to
nonprofits serving communities in North America, Western Europe, etc.
- Crowdfunding for Nonprofits,
NGOs, Schools, Etc.: How To Do It Successfully
Crowdfunding is difficult and most nonprofits that try it raise NO
MONEY. This is realistic advice.
- Don't Just Ask for Money!
If all your nonprofit, NGO or charity does is tell people how much you
need funds, you won't get much. Here's how to craft your messaging -
online and face-to-face - to exude success and attract donors.
- 14
simple things to do to your web site to attract more donors
And I mean it - these are SIMPLE things.
- Vetting Organizations in Other
Countries
A resource that can help you evaluate volunteer-placement organizations
that charge you for your placement as a volunteer, as well as for people
interested in partnering or supporting an organization abroad but
wanting to know it's a credible organization, that it's not some sort of
scam, or an 'organization' of just one person.
- Hosting International Volunteers
More and more local organizations in developing countries are turning to
local expertise, rather than international volunteers, to support their
efforts. However, the need for international volunteers remains, and
will for many, many years to come. This resource provides tips for local
organization in a developing countries interested in gaining to
international volunteers.
- Questions to Ask
for a Major Report from the Developing World
Most people who write reports about their projects in the developing
world rely heavily on field staff to provide information. Often,
however, field staff aren't expert report writers, and struggle to
provide meaningful, timely information in a coherent written form. Many
report writers get around this by interviewing field staff about their
work, so that needed information is provided through answers to
questions. This method can also build the capacity of field staff to
provide written information themselves. This is a
list of questions I used to interview staff at an initiative in
Afghanistan that was focused on rural projects. I based these questions
on previous monthly and quarterly reports, suggestions from donors, the
initiatives stated objectives, and my own need for information that
could lead to stories in which the press might be interested.
- Building Staff
Capacities to Communicate and to Present
Marketing and public relations is never just one person's responsibility
at an organization, regardless of everyone's job titles; everyone at an
organization will interact with other staff, partner organizations,
potential supporters and the general public at some point. Therefore,
everyone needs to be able to talk or to write clearly about his or her
own work and that of the organization overall. This new resource
describes various activities I undertook to improve the communication
capacities of Afghan government staff. This resource links to various
slide presentations and materials used for this endeavor in Afghanistan
that can be adapted by others in different countries and situations.
Included is a workshop on helping women in strict religious cultures to
cultivate their presentation and public speaking skills, a workshop and
tip sheet to help staff write better reports, and a slide presentation
to help staff take photos in the field that will serve a variety of
communications and reporting purposes.
Read more about Jayne Cravens
Quick Links
Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by the
poster/distributor. This material is provided as is, with no expressed
or implied warranty.
Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited
amount of material from my web site without charge if the
information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:
Otherwise, please contact
me for permission to reprint, present or distribute these
materials (for instance, in a class or book or online event for which
you intend to charge).
The art work and material on
this site was created and is copyrighted 1996-2017
by Jayne Cravens, all rights reserved
(unless noted otherwise, or the art comes from a link to another
web site).
