Q: What are some good ideas for promoting a non-profit organization?

A: If you intend to be in the public eye, Positive Public Perception will do wonders for a fledgling mission. Getting involved with the community will help to build good public relations. Study the community to learn where you can be of assistance. Always present yourself in the context of your mission so that an association is made between the good works that you are doing and the name and identity of your mission.

Like a business, your mission will need constant promoting if you are seeking private funding for your activities. Like a business, your mission will need money to build and expand into its intended role. Fund raising activities, either solo or cooperative efforts with others, can be explored and are beneficial for raising public awareness to the good works you wish to accomplish.

Contacting local newspapers and presenting the story of your non-profit mission to the Human Interest Editor can result in free publicity that can also help to launch a new mission. You can also seek out other periodicals that publish human interest stories and explore what free promotion may exist.

If you find that you need to advertise, be sure to ask if there are any rate discounts available for non-profits.

Q: What is the biggest hurdle in running a non-profit organization?

A: In my opinion that would depend upon what you are doing within the context of being a non-profit. Generally speaking, though, there is so much misinformation regarding non-profits, and because of recent abuses of the public’s trust, certain non-profit activities are viewed with suspicion. Educating others regarding the legitimacy of our mission is the hurdle. They assume that only a “business” structure can be legitimate. This is where establishing good PR can be essential to the success of your mission. Developing a positive public image can help establish your credibility and can make your path much smoother.

Q: Do you find more esoteric benefits running a non-profit as compared to running a for-profit business?

A: Again, that would depend upon the nature of one’s mission. Generally speaking, there are means of organizing one’s mission that provide certain benefits that can, for example, include the ease and simplicity of bookkeeping and managing its operations. When compared to the complexities of keeping books for the typical corporation, that feature alone is worth the price of admission, as they say. Because as a church we are also tax exempt, the ease of keeping books and records for our own benefit and not for the IRS is one of the most important “esoteric” benefits that we enjoy.

For some people, especially celebrities and the wealthy, privacy is also an important issue and that, too, can be a benefit when your mission is properly established.

Q: What is your favorite part of running a non-profit organization?

A: To me, personally, one of the most rewarding aspects of working in the non-profit arena is meeting a greater percentage of like-minded people. Because we assist others who are seeking to answer their calling to greater service, we have the first-hand opportunity to watch them develop from a beginning of uncertainty and blossom into their greatest potential. That is very satisfying to know that you have helped someone make that quantum shift from the rat-race servitude to the corporate system to one of peace and personal fulfillment within their service to humanity.

Q: What are some of the types of structures that are used by non-profits?

A: There are several methods of organizing your mission as a non-profit. Some are stand-alone structures while others can be combined with others formats to achieve certain unique benefits. Foundations, trusts, unincorporated associations, and corporations sole have all been successfully utilized for centuries for the operation and management of non-profit missions.

Q: Do you have any other advice for someone that is thinking of starting a non-profit organization?

A: Study, study, study. There is so much erroneous, conflicting misinformation surrounding the non-profit subject. Some of the confusion comes from the various bodies of law, or jurisdictions that may govern the formation of a non-profit. Luckily in this country we still enjoy the separation of church and state mandates which provide certain freedoms and leeway in forming and operating certain non-profit ministries within an ecclesiastical venue.

However, one can easily be led to erroneously mingling elements of business with a non-profit – like mixing apples and oranges – that can become very confusing. I believe that is the source of much of the misinformation that is confusing to the newbie.

And our Bonus Question: Mac or PC?

A: While I have been a PC fan for over 20 years, I am beginning to tire of the MS game and am seriously considering a move to Mac. Many of our former PC associates have made the move and are very happy with the Mac system.

The Arcadian Society Mission Statement and Contact Information:

The Arcadian Society is a global, benevolent society of visionary people – each an Emissary of Peace. We are working independently, yet in unison, sharing and empowering a vision of a New Paradigm that will provide workable solutions to the challenges that face humankind at this time in our history.

For more information about The Arcadian Society, its mission, and the benefits of private membership, please visit the website of The Arcadian Society.

Q: How would someone know if their work, or mission, as you put it, would be suited to be organized as a non-profit? What kind of activities could be organized as non-profits?

A: Before one can make such a decision, it is important to understand what it means to be “non-profit.” Many assume that it means that the company doesn’t make money and always operates on a shoe-string budget. Being non-profit is a matter of legal structuring of the company or mission – not about how much money is made by its activities.

In a nutshell, “Profit” is money that is paid to investors or share holders in a venture after all company expenses are paid. The structure of non-profit missions or churches generally doesn’t include share holders. Thus the net proceeds of the endeavor remain within the mission for the exclusive use of the mission or ministry.

Functioning as a non-profit has a number of advantages and some disadvantages depending upon the intended activities of the mission. These must be carefully considered to determine if the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages in a particular situation. It would be wise to seek the counsel of someone who is very familiar with the operation of a non-profit mission to help in making that determination.

Many times people will organize their service to others as a business simply because they are not aware of their options. In so doing, they lose the advantage of certain immunities and exceptions that are available to non-profit missions.

These immunities and exceptions can greatly simplify the management of a small mission where funds and personnel may initially be limited.

As to what kind of activities can qualify, I would have to say that most anything could qualify as a non-profit activity, but it really depends most upon the attitude and motivation of the founder of the mission.

For example, restoring vintage automobiles could be conducted as a business, but it could also be conducted as a non-profit activity within a foundation formed for the preservation and appreciation for classic automobiles. It really depends upon the purposes and motivation behind the endeavor.

Likewise, an orphanage is usually operated as a non-profit ministry. However, it could also be operated as a for-profit business if its principals so desired. In this way, the subject matter of the mission is not as important as the purpose and motivation behind its creation.

We have assisted members of The Arcadian Society in establishing charitable, teaching, and healing ministries of all kinds. For example, some of them are operating soup kitchens, while others are conducting healing services as chiropractors, herbalists, energy healers, massage technicians, and holistic health consultants. Still others are providing teaching services of various kinds.

Many people who are now operating as a business could be operating as a non-profit. Much depends upon how they perceive themselves.

As an example, one woman that I was working with wanted the advantages of a non-profit operation, but she wanted to be considered a “business woman” and not the director of a non-profit mission. To her that title implied that she had achieved her “success.” She ultimately chose to organize within a traditional business structure and is now trying to navigate through the maze of bureaucratic red tape to which she could have been immune as a non-profit mission. Her own self image and ego kept her from the other benefits she desired.

Q: Can you still get paid to work for a non-profit organization?

A: Yes, of course you can get paid. Remember that the non-profit doesn’t give its earnings away to shareholders. It keeps its earnings to pay its expenses, such as the salaries of those who perform services for it.

Q: What is the importance of a mission statement?

A: If you intend to reach any destination, you need a map. In business you develop a business plan. The Mission Statement serves in that manner to help those who are guiding and directing the mission to reach its intended goals. I believe the Mission Statement should be a dynamic document that can adapt to changing conditions and new opportunities that become available to the mission along the way. It’s always a good idea to have an alternate route in the event that there is a road closure ahead. Pre-planning an alternate route will allow one to follow it with confidence if it should become necessary to do so.

If the mission will be seeking donations from benefactors, they, too, will want to see the plan for the future and how their contributions will be utilized. A carefully-considered and well-written Mission Statement will be invaluable at that time.

To be continued. Please subscribe to our email blogcast or RSS feed.

Q: Please tell us a little bit about your background and about what led you to where you are now.

A: While my professional background has varied from marketing and manufacturing to publishing, my formal training is in the field of clinical and motivational hypnosis. Since I was a boy I have been fascinated with Einstein’s concepts of time and his theories of interacting with the past to change the present and future. It was that intense interest that led me to specialize in the hypnosis healing modalities of Past-life Regression, Future progression, and Time Distortion therapies.

Q: What is The Arcadian Society?

A: The Arcadian Society is global think tank of visionary people. We understand that each of us, as self-contemplating thought, has the ability to create our individual as well as our collective reality by our focused thought. Such focused thought can bring about a new, positive paradigm of experience – if we can learn to control our thinking. Most of us grew up having been taught what to think. Part of our mission is to help others learn how to think more effectively. In this way, they, too, can become part of a global effort to improve our quality of life and our Earth.

We also assist our members who feel a calling to be of greater service to humanity or the environment with the establishment of their mission or ministry as a non-profit charitable, teaching, or healing ministry. Additionally, we provide consulting services to them once they have become established as a non-profit mission.

Q: Have you owned any businesses? Have you worked for other businesses? How long have you been working with your non-profit?

A: Yes, I have founded, operated, and sold several businesses through the years. But, I have also worked in the ranks of corporate America. I understand both sides of the fence between employers and employees. I believe it is time to tear down that fence and create a better cooperative effort between labor and management, and I am especially impressed with the results of the Mondragon Experiment being demonstrated by the Basques in Spain.

I have been the Overseer of The Arcadian Society for 10 years and my service to it and its members has been one of the most rewarding endeavors of my life.

Q: In particular, what led to your interest in doing work in the non-profit sector?

A: I was taught “service to others” ideals from an early age, although I was not quite sure how I might actually make a significant contribution to society in that manner until I began my hypnosis practice. However, witnessing the seemingly magical improvements in the lives of my clients with the proper application of mental dynamics principles convinced me that this knowledge is so vitally important to the future of humanity that it must be made available to all people – free of charge.

The Arcadian Society is the result of that decision.

To be continued. Please subscribe to our email blogcast or RSS feed.

A reader of my previous articles on non-profit organizations asked, “Why would someone want to form a non-profit organization and not want to become a 501c3?”

What is a Non-Profit?

Simply put, a non-profit — or not for profit — is an organization that does not distribute its profits to shareholders or owners. Instead of distributing taxable wealth to owners (like a for-profit company), a non-profit uses profits in order to fund its programs and services.

A non-profit can hire employees and a management team and do anything else required to operate. After all such expenses are paid, a non-profit business treats its surplus money differently than a for-profit business.

Instead of paying profits to stockholders, the “extra” money is instead used within the organization to pay for and expand its programs and services.

Non-profit is a legal status pertaining to how and why an organization is being run. It doesn’t confer tax-exempt status, nor must such an organization necessarily pursue tax-exempt status.

What is a Tax-Exempt Organization?

Tax-exempt is a taxation status. Tax-exempt means that your organization will not pay regular income taxes on monies left over after expenses are paid.

While you may be running a non-profit organization in terms of how you handle “extra” funds, you might or might not have a need to obtain tax-exempt status.

Your organization will be doing things to raise money to afford the products and services you want to offer, and some of that money will be used to pay your employees or marketing or other operational costs. After those things are paid, you have a profit.

Do you want that profit to be taxed, or do you want that profit to be tax-exempt?

If you want the Internal Revenue Service to exempt your organization from paying the same taxes as other businesses, you must seek approval for one of the many tax-exempt statuses available. The most commonly known tax-exempt status is 501c3.

You apply for 501c3 status with the IRS. If approved, your organization will be tax-exempt. As I explained in Now You’re Ready for Tax-Exempt Status, having a tax-exempt status does not mean that you don’t have to file with the IRS. You will have to file, and you will have paperwork.

Do I Need Both Non-Profit and Tax-Exempt Status?

Again, your organization can be non-profit and tax-exempt, or it can be non-profit and not tax-exempt.

Non-Profit	Tax-Exempt
Legal status	Tax status
No shareholders	No Shareholders
Pays taxes on profits	May not pay taxes on profits
No extensive application process to IRS	Extensive application process to IRS
Activities not regulated by the IRS	You’ve volunteered to have your activities highly regulated by the IRS

You will have to weigh the costs versus the benefits against the objectives of your organization. These are not decisions to be made lightly. However, these decisions can be changed as your organization grows and perhaps changes some of its objectives.

We’ve been talking about how to organize a non-profit endeavor. I’ve brought you information in previous articles and tried not to be too long-winded. But on the subject of grants, I need to rant.

Many people have heard of “free grant money.” I receive in my email numerous messages about available grant money, in the form of government, corporate, and private grants.

I also hear first-hand accounts from people that were “sold a bill of goods” from a company that “specializes” in helping organizations apply for available grant money.

Too many people have lost money trying to get a “free” grant, so I want to share with you some things to watch out for when you consider applying for grants.

Grant Truths

These statements are true:

• Grant money is available.
• It’s money that you don’t have to pay back.
• It’s money that governmental agencies, private companies, or public companies hand out to organizations that fit specific criteria, set by the group giving out the money.
• Those groups give out the grant money and then claim it as a benefit on their own tax return.
• They set the criteria for the organizations that receive the money.

More Grant Truths

When you are thinking about applying for grants, you have to use some common sense. While it is possible to apply for and receive a grant, the grant industry as a whole is not completely forthright about how it all works.

Not everyone who applies for a grant is going to receive one. The companies that are giving grants not only have a set of criteria for the kinds of organizations they like to support, they also have a set of criteria they must follow so that they get their tax benefit.

Timing is important too. Grant applications have deadlines by which you must apply for each grant. If you miss the deadline, it doesn’t matter how great your organization is; you won’t be able to get the grant.

Who Gets the Grants?

Many of the grants out there must be given to non-profit organizations that are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt entity; otherwise, the company giving the grant cannot use the write-off on their own tax return. Grant companies and their salespeople don’t always tell you that. They will let you try to take a for-profit business through the process; after they have collected your money they will tell you that if you set up a non-profit organization, your chances will improve. Then they will sell you non-profit structuring services.

What is the Grant Writing Industry?

Applying for a grant is like many bureaucratic processes: you have to do a lot of paperwork. The paperwork can be really time-consuming, especially if you don’t know how to do it. You can hire grant writers to prepare all of the paperwork that you send in to apply for a specific grant, and a good grant writer knows the steps that are required and how to complete them.

The grant writing industry has grown substantially in past years, and it will grow even faster as we keep working through our economy problems. Business owners are looking for solutions to their financial problems.

A Great Telemarketing “Business”

Typically, businesses are contacted through telemarketers or online advertising followed with a telephone consultation. At the phone consultation, the business owner is told that many grants are available for their type of business and in their geographical area. The consultant will advise the potential customer that he will run the owner’s information through the “database of available grants” and then call them back with possible available grants.

After that, the consultant will lure the prospective customer with some dollar amount of grants that came up on the database search, telling the business owner that all they have to do is write the grant applications and apply.

Of course, the grant company will take care of all of the grant writing and applications for a modest fee, usually somewhere between 1500 and 5000 dollars. (I did work with one client who paid 20,000 dollars for the grant writing services).

Is it Really a Scam?

How these grant writing companies stay on the fringe of legality is by charging you a fee for doing all of the paperwork for you without any guarantee of your receiving a grant.

How these grant companies take advantage of you is by hyping up the idea that you can get a grant that is just waiting for a business like yours.

They will explain to you that it can take a year or two for you to get approval on a grant, depending upon the calendar schedule for specific grants and how many people are applying each year for those grants.

If you don’t get the grant, it won’t be because the paperwork was not filled out correctly. That’s how the grant writer is absolved.

They will also promise you that if after the first year, you haven’t received a grant, they will continue to help you during the second year. This of course, is not that hard because they really don’t have to do anything.

How to Spot a Scam Artist

Knowing when you are talking to a legitimate grant writer and a sketchy company is a hard to determine. Most of those companies employ decent, and sometimes great, salespeople. The potential client wants to hear how easy it’s going to be to get a grant. That makes the sales guy’s job even easier.

The thing to watch out for is how you and the grant writer find each other. If you were contacted by an automated dialer that asked you to push “1” if you are interested in free grant money, chances are it is not a good idea.

If you are contacted through an email that showed up in your junk email folder with a subject line that says something like, “Get your free government money”, chances are it is not a good idea.

Do Your Research

Always remember to look for bad press on the grant writer and do your research.

• Check with scam alert websites, the Better Business Bureau and with other consumer protection sites.
• Check with the governmental agencies or companies to see if they really are giving out a grant for a group like yours.
• Look to non-profit organizations that help non-profits with applying for grants.
• Ask the grant writer for references.
• Ask how long the grant writer has been in business, how many clients he has, and what percentage of grants he writes actually receive a grant.

It’s important to work with companies that you trust and that you feel good about. That’s true when we hire any professional to help us. If you don’t trust the person selling you on the service, it’s possible that you don’t have a good fit. Look for another company.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Honest grant writers will not need to oversell you; honest grant writers will explain to you how grants really work, and that you might want to think about other funding options along with the possibility of getting a grant.