For newly approved 501(c)(3)s
You got the letter. Now what?
The IRS determination letter feels like the finish line. It's actually the starting line. Here's what to actually do next, in order, without the sales pitch.
The IRS determination letter feels like the finish line. It's actually the starting line. Here's what to actually do next, in order, without the sales pitch.
Most of what's written for new nonprofits is a law firm, a CPA firm, or a software company answering the one part of this question that sells their own service. This site tries to answer the whole thing honestly, including telling you when you don't need to spend money yet.
Bank account, EIN letter, your annual filing deadline, state fundraising registration, and the governance basics nobody explains up front.
What you need to open one, and an honest comparison of online, credit-union, and traditional-bank options.
Real fee structures, no invented winner, matched to what a zero-budget org actually needs first.
Enter your real donation volume and see what you'd actually keep under each platform.
Most new orgs don't. A spreadsheet is fine at first. Here's how to tell when that changes.
Probably not on day one. Here's when you do, and honest hosting options once you're ready.
Every guide on this site in one place, including accounting, insurance, grants, payroll, and state-specific fundraising registration.
Free, ready-to-use board meeting minutes, a conflict-of-interest policy, donation receipts, and a bylaws checklist.
The FAQ page covers the things people ask most: 501(c)(3) vs (c)(4) vs (c)(6), whether board members can be paid, what you have to file every year even with no money, and multi-state fundraising registration.
There are also state-specific guides for California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania, plus free board and donor templates.
Some of the tools we mention run their own referral programs, but we haven't joined any yet, so every link on this site today is plain and untracked with $0 in commission attached. We only recommend things we'd genuinely tell a friend to use. Full explanation on the about page.