How to Start a Non Profit Organization: Open Source Sharing What One Community Filed for Ours

For people asking how to start a non profit organization we are open source sharing exactly what we filed for our application. Our method of filing, and who we consulted with, was LegalZoom. At such point as we have an accountant on the Pioneer Team we hope to be able to provide more help and add additional details to this page.

CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE RESOURCES OF USE TO THIS OPEN SOURCE CONTENT

OPEN SOURCING HOW TO START A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION DISCLAIMER

Our goal in open source sharing our filing and experience with how to start a non profit organization like One Community is to provide an example of what we wrote and how we filled out the forms. When using what we share here it is important to note that:

1. We are not accountants and are not providing this information as filing advice or counsel and it is our opinion that documents like this are something you should have reviewed by someone specializing in how to start a non profit organization before submitting your own forms. In our case we used LegalZoom.
2. In filling out our forms it became very apparent to us that the IRS is meticulous in its requirements so it is absolutely imperative that you check to make sure you are filing based on current guidelines, forms, etc.
3. There are a multitude of different acceptable reasons for starting and maintaining a non profit organization and it is our experience that it is extremely important that yours be specific to your purpose and long-term plans (for reference, here are our long-term plans).
4. Forming a non profit organization, while it is foundational to our organization and purpose to be a duplicable model solution that creates additional solution creating models, is definitely not a necessary component of future communities, villages, and cities using our open source blueprints for duplication. While we would love to see every successive model of One Community as a non profit entity, our methodology for global change is designed for maximum duplication including for-profit applications of our revenue streams. 
   

With all that said, we hope that sharing exactly what we sent to the IRS to get 501(c)(3) approved can save you time and money if used as a starting point to take with you when you talk to your accountant or other non profit organization professional. As with everything One Community creates, all information here is open source and free-shared without limitations of use.

OUR NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION TIMELINE

Time to fill out all the paperwork and make sure we had all the necessary documents was over 100 hours due to the fact we were still evolving One Community and needed to research many of the specifics requested. One Community incorporated in May of 2011, we filed for non profit status in November, got notice by mail in January 2012 that our form would need to be reviewed in detail before approval, and went through the process of answering specific questions with a reviewer when our turn came up in July 2012 – at which point we were approved within a couple weeks.

NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION ORDER OF SUBMISSION

In our experience the IRS made it VERY clear that the order of submission was important but there was enough conflicting information for us to feel a little confused at exactly the order to actually put all documents. After much reading and research for clarification, here is how we ended up putting them in order for mailing from top to bottom:

1. 1023 Checklist
2. 1023 Application
3. Attachment to 1023 word doc (inc. Schedule H) + Community Application and Residency Agreement
4. Conflict of Interest Policy
5. Articles of Incorporation
6. Bylaws
7. Printout of Website
8. Conflict of Interest Policy (again)

NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION DOCUMENTS

Clicking links below will open new windows with the PDFs of all documents listed. You can then save or print them.

1. One Community 1023 Checklist
2. 1023 Application (30 MB file so it might take a minute for the preview to load)
3. Attachment to 1023 word doc (inc. Schedule H), Community Application, and Residency Agreement
4. Conflict of Interest Policy
5. Articles of Incorporation
6. One Community Bylaws
7. Printout of Website (we printed the top 15 key pages)
8. Conflict of Interest Policy

ADDITIONAL NOTES REGARDING NON PROFIT DOCUMENTS

• Personal information and EIN details have been removed
• You may notice many of our details on the website have evolved far beyond what is in our original non profit application