Should we start a nonprofit?

This may surprise you, but the real and honest answer is, “probably not”.

The fact is that there are a lot of nonprofits already out there, and if there’s already an organization trying to do the work you envision, the better thing is probably just to join them and see how you can help. After all, it would be a shame to go through time and trouble just to wind up duplicating efforts and competing against other good people for a limited pool of funding.

If there’s a good organization out there already doing the work, you could join them, serve the cause, and probably learn a lot, too. If there’s a nonprofit in the field that’s struggling, your vision and energy might be just the thing they need to turn things around and make a difference. You might even discover an organization all-but-abandoned, happy for anyone willing to step in and keep things going, which might allow you to dust off an already-established brand and give it new life. Before taking the leap and starting your own nonprofit, it would be wise to look around and see who, if anyone, is already out there.

But if nobody else is tackling the problem you want to tackle, or if nobody else is delivering the solution that you can bring, or if there’s nobody even out there to join, or if the nonprofits trying to do the job are broken beyond repair, then the answer is Yes – Yes, you should consider starting your own nonprofit. If you can gather a handful of responsible people who care about the cause like you do, who work well together, and who can agree on the mission and plan, then you have what it takes to start a nonprofit.

And whatever you decide, whether you’re starting a new nonprofit or helping improve one that’s already going, RMPLI can help you get things right.