The journey of a non-profit corporation

It was bound to come up. We start a document filing company and within weeks several people have called expressing an interest in starting a non-profit company. I defer these people because I don't have any experience in this arena.

And then something remarkable happens. I am invited to be on the board of a yet-to-be-formed non-profit corporation. The non-profit will be for the benefit of Phoenix Children's Hospital. There are a few really remarkable things about this request, 1) I just started an LLC filing company so this is really up my alley and 2) part of my 5-year plan is to be on the board of a philanthropic organization.

I leap at the chance to handle the paperwork and...we're off.

Except, I discover that starting a non-profit (ironically) takes quite a bit of money. It seems that there are actually two steps to the process. Both are fairly involved and neither are cheap.

The first step is to file the incorporation papers with the ACC. Before that happens, we have to make a determination if we are going to be tax-exempt or non-tax exempt.

We have a few options. We can hire an attorney; the best one I found in Phoenix charges about $1,300 to fill out and file the forms with the ACC. After doing some fact checking, I realize that he isn't even marking up the filing fee. The rest of his fee will help us with legal organization once we're official.

But, we don't have $1,300. We have just about enough money for me to file the tax-exempt incorporation papers with the State. Sigh! Its an unfamiliar form and there are a few blanks that intimidate me. It's a big responsibility but I'm going to navigate through it.