{"id":4214,"date":"2014-12-06T07:47:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-06T11:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=4214"},"modified":"2014-12-06T07:47:59","modified_gmt":"2014-12-06T11:47:59","slug":"10-tips-for-starting-a-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=4214","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for Starting a Charity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Molly<\/a>
Molly MacDonald, founder of The Pink Fund
Photo courtesy of The Pink Fund<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few weeks ago, I met Molly MacDonald, the founder and CEO of The Pink Fund<\/a>, a nonprofit that provides financial aid to breast cancer patients. The 63-year old breast cancer survivor was buzzing with energy as she told me about the charity she started eight years ago and her personal story triggering it.<\/p>\n

The Pink Fund provides aid applicants it selects with up to $3,000 to pay for things such as health insurance premiums and essentials like mortgage, rent, car or utility payments. At the time of diagnosis, a woman must be employed and either have lost her job or be on a leave due to the diagnosis and treatment. So far, the fund has disbursed $809,505 and helped 844 women and four men since the spring of 2007. Little surprise that MacDonald was honored last year as an Encore Purpose Prize Fellow<\/a>, one of 42 people Encore.org<\/a> recognized for their remarkable work helping communities and the world.<\/p>\n

(MORE<\/strong>: Purpose Prize Winners Do Great Work After 60<\/a>)<\/p>\n

An Encore Career or Side Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

MacDonald\u2019s important work creating The Pink Fund got me thinking: It\u2019s not such an outlandish dream to start a nonprofit<\/a> if you\u2019re over 50 and if there\u2019s a genuine need, the way she did. And since we\u2019re in charity-giving season, I thought it was a good time to pass on MacDonald\u2019s hard-won advice to others who\u2019d like to launch a nonprofit as an encore career or side project.<\/p>\n

MacDonald, who has a background in sales and marketing, launched her Beverly Hills, Mich.-based nonprofit after her own financial struggle during her treatment and recovery from breast cancer. When diagnosed, she was on the cusp of starting a six-figure job making her the family\u2019s primary breadwinner (her five children were then ages 12 to 21; her husband is a piano technician). Although the surgery and radiation left MacDonald cancer-free, her prospective employer dropped its job offer due to her health condition.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s finances imploded and their home went into foreclosure. \u201cI thought: \u2018Oh my gosh, we are going to be homeless,\u2019” recalls MacDonald. \u201cI was just stunned. I couldn’t figure out how we were going to pick up the pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

(MORE<\/strong>: 2 Women Launch Green Ventures in Midlife<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Her ‘Divine Inspiration’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then she had what she calls \u201cdivine inspiration.\u201d Says MacDonald: \u201cIf I could help one family from not experiencing this, it would make sense of what we were going through. Otherwise, I would end up feeling bitter.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she bought Nolo\u2019s Starting & Building a Nonprofit: A Practical Guide<\/em><\/a>, and, with her husband, began mapping plans. Within a year, The Pink Fund was born.<\/p>\n

READ COLUMN ON FORBES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I asked MacDonald for her advice to others who are eager to launch nonprofits around causes that are dear to them. Here are 10 of her tips:<\/p>\n

1. Start out by volunteering<\/a> your time.<\/strong> “In the first three years, we worked from my kitchen table, raising about $30,000. By 2010, I had enough savings put aside that I quit my job [working for a mortgage company] and told the board that I would volunteer full-time without pay for one year,\u201d MacDonald says. In 2011, the board voted MacDonald a $40,000 salary, which has since risen to $70,000.<\/p>\n

2. Go slow.<\/strong> \u201cIt took a year to lay the groundwork to start the nonprofit,\u201d says MacDonald. Getting traction wasn\u2019t easy. \u201cI have stood in rooms with three people listening to my spiel. There were times when I wanted to give up,\u201d she says. \u201cWhile people thought it was a great idea, they were not willing to put a big chunk of change behind it. They all said I was a big dreamer and would pooh pooh it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people will applaud your mission, but will hang back before offering funding. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to get in your game until you are successful,\u201d says MacDonald. That\u2019s why, she says, \u201cyou\u2019ve got to be in it for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Invite a well-known speaker for an event.<\/strong> Bringing in someone with a following could gin up interest in your nonprofit when you\u2019re just starting out and under the radar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years ago, we invited the author Kris Carr, who had written Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips<\/em><\/a>, to speak at a luncheon,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cMy idea was she had a huge tribe of followers who align with what we were doing. Well, we sold out; 400 people came. And now all of a sudden these people who didn\u2019t know about The Pink Fund but loved Kris Carr knew about us. It allowed us to tell our story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turns out, the head of Ford\u2019s Warriors in Pink<\/a> breast cancer charity was a Carr fan and called MacDonald when she heard about the upcoming luncheon, saying Ford wanted to help fund the event. Several months later, Ford invited The Pink Fund to join Warriors in Pink.<\/p>\n

4. Create a vision board to inspire you. <\/strong>That\u2019s a collage on a big white poster board with images and magazine cutouts that home in on your dreams and goals for your nonprofit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought vision boards were a bunch of baloney,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cBut in March of 2007, a year after I started The Pink Fund, I went to a breast cancer survivor\u2019s recovery conference and we were asked to create a poster board around professional life, family life, physical life and spiritual life. I put the Ford blue oval logo on it; I knew they were one of the major corporate participants in breast cancer research and awareness and were located near me.”<\/p>\n

Fast forward five years later when The Pink Fund became part of Ford\u2019s Warriors in Pink family. \u201cThat has been a game changer in terms of our credibility and ability to fundraise, and I believe that mental image I carried with me help make that a reality,\u201d says MacDonald.<\/p>\n

5. Use your connections to get the word out through the media.<\/strong> \u201cWhen we were ready to launch, I got one of my former employers, the Detroit Free Press, to run a story on our effort. More than a dozen newspapers picked it up and that\u2019s how people heard about it. Then, donations began to come in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

6. Seek out nonfinancial donations or barter for services.<\/strong> \u201cOur office space, legal work, brochure and website are all donated. Even our logo was designed by one of my girlfriends in exchange for a table I gave her,\u201d says MacDonald.<\/p>\n

7. Make sure your financials are in good shape.<\/strong> MacDonald says you need to run a lean organization. \u201cSet up Quick Books<\/em><\/a> accounting software [cost: around $10 to $40 a month], file your taxes on time and have a treasurer who advises you on how to spend money and live within your budget,\u201d she says. \u201cNonprofit means you\u2019re not making a profit, but you are a business. And you must run the organization with those principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. Develop an intern program<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s a win for both of you,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cIt saves some costs and you are able to give interns work experience for 10 weeks or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

You also get to learn from them<\/em> and the internship can pay off for your charity in other ways. \u201cWe get interns through arrangements with two local colleges and have recently aligned with a college that has a patient navigation program, who will help us seek out other resources to help patients,\u201d says MacDonald.<\/p>\n

9. Use social media<\/a> relentlessly<\/strong>. \u201cFollow people [on Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, and Twitter] you respect and learn from them,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cI have made amazing connections that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

10. Network, network, network.<\/strong> \u201cAttend community events and volunteer to speak at local Rotary Clubs and organizations like that. You never know who you will meet,\u201d says MacDonald.<\/p>\n

Or where your networking<\/a> will lead.<\/p>\n

Case in point: In 2009, when her daughter was working for Diana von Furstenberg, MacDonald was asked to model as a survivor for the designer\u2019s fashion show benefit for the Susan G. Komen<\/a> organization. \u201cSomeone from the SEED Foundation<\/a> read about it and sent us a check for $5,000 with a note that said \u2018Let me know if you need more.\u2019 Since then, this woman has given us probably $125,000 and is looking at making a more significant gift,\u201d says MacDonald.<\/p>\n

Then there was the small function that MacDonald thought wasn\u2019t a great use of her time to attend. She went anyway. “While I was there, I was introduced to a woman who has raised $42 million in the nonprofit world. Now I\u2019m meeting with her in two weeks,\u201d says MacDonald. And that could wind up helping more women with breast cancer who could use a hand.<\/p>\n

by Kerry Hannon<\/a>, November 29, 2014 More by this author<\/a><\/p>\n

\"StartingKerry Hannon has spent more than 25 years covering personal finance for Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report and USA Today. She is the author of What’s Next? Follow Your Passion<\/em><\/a>and Find Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties and Beyond<\/a>;<\/em> Great Jobs for Everyone 50+<\/a> and\u00a0Suddenly Single: Money Skills for Divorcees and Widows<\/em><\/a>. Her website is kerryhannon.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter @kerryhannon<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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