Research Guides: Nonprofits and NGOs: Starting Your Own Nonprofit

Fiscal Sponsorship

If you're not quite ready to start your own nonprofit, you could try running some pilot programs under a fiscal sponsorship arrangement with an existing nonprofit. Typically a fiscal sponsor is a nonprofit entity that agrees to take on many of the administrative tasks associated with your project in return for a percentage of the funds you collect. As with all things, there are advantages and disadvantages to this option.

Starting Your Own Nonprofit

Nonprofit Startup Resources
"This assessment is for people who are either considering or are already in the early stages of starting a nonprofit. Questions will assess background knowledge, capital, and work experience that are relevant to starting a nonprofit."
Charitable Ohio
This is a central starting point for information on starting a charity in Ohio including guidance on 'how to start a charity', the ability to search for charities and view annual filings and links to the appropriate place to register your charity, among other things.
Ohio Secretary of State Business Guides
One of the provided business guides is on how to 'Start a Nonprofit Organization in Ohio'. The guide includes information on how to register your nonprofit, other required filings, information on obtaining tax exempt status and FAQs.
IRS - Stay Exempt - Starting Out
"Applying for tax-exempt status?... [This site includes] a few IRS tools to get your organization moving in the right direction."
What are nonprofit bylaws?
"State nonprofit laws usually address nonprofit governance matters. However, you can choose different rules, as long as they don't violate state law and are included in your bylaws." This site gives you a few resources to start thinking about bylaws.
IRS - Tax information for charities and nonprofits
This site reviews exempt organization types, allows you to access forms and official guidance including how to fill out your annual 990, a Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and more.

Entrepreneurship LibGuide

There are likely a number of entrepreneurship research resources that overlap with the research needs you may encounter while considering starting a new nonprofit.

Entrepreneurship LibGuide
This guide covers industry and market research, intellectual property considerations, funding, social entrepreneurship resources, Columbus-specific resources and open data.

Marketing Resources

eMarketer PRO This link opens in a new window
The eMarketer PRO database provides reports, articles and forecasts focused on digital marketing, media and commerce around the world, including data on ad spending in both traditional media and various social media platforms
Mintel Reports [Selected Articles in Full Text] This link opens in a new window
Mintel Reports provides market research reports that analyze the driving forces, market share, competitors, and customer profiles that shape a consumer market's size and characteristics. Unique information in these reports includes consumer attitudes and behaviors sections.