We finally finished preparing the IRS form 1023 and will be sending it out this week. In part, this took as long as it did because we decided to finish a detailed description of our organization that included research on the benefits of dance and the community need for programs like those we intend to run. In the end, it turned out to be a great document and helped to fill in all of the details requested by the 1023. Hopefully we'll be granted 501(c)(3) status shortly and can tie up the loose ends with our business license application.
Based on questions asked in the 1023, it seems that many people establish non-profits with the intent of making operation of the non-profit their primary employment. For us, we've had to balance the effort required to get all of the registrations together with our professional work, regular operation of the non-profit, and our personal lives. We've realized that after being granted 501(c)(3) status, things will not return to their previous state since continuing the development of the organization and maintaining its 501(c)(3) status will be like having a second job. Interestingly, every time we make progress on developing our organization, parellels between starting a non-profit and a for-profit business become more and more evident. Think, for example, about how a founder of either type of organization must decide whether to quit their current job and focus full-time on their venture or to do both simultaneously.
Something on my mind that I hadn't thought about before is that there must be non-profit "angels" and "venture capitalists" who help finance and advise early-stage non-profits. I wonder how they define and measure "returns"?
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