Every nonprofit starts the same way. With someone saying, “Someone should do something about this.” And then quietly realizing… that someone might be you.

Over the past few years, I’ve had a handful of people reach out asking how to start a nonprofit. They’re thoughtful, values driven people who have seen a problem up close and feel a responsibility to respond. What they’re often missing isn’t passion. It’s clarity, support, and a mentor who has been there.

That’s why I created a simple workbook to help people slow down, think things through, and get organized before diving into paperwork or IRS forms. If you’re considering starting a nonprofit, here are a few tips I wish every founder heard early on.

Tip 1: Spend more time clarifying the problem than the solution
Most people want to jump straight to what they’re building. A program. An event. A service.

Instead, start with the problem.

Who is struggling?
What are they experiencing?
Why isn’t the current system working for them?

The workbook starts here for a reason. Getting clear on the problem, the people affected, and the impact you hope to make will guide every decision that follows.

Your mission statement isn’t something you write once and forget. It becomes a filter for every decision you make.

A good mission clearly explains:

If you can’t explain what you do in one clear sentence, you don’t need more words. You need more clarity.

Tip 3: Think about the future you’re working toward, not just what you’ll do this year
Your mission is about today. Your vision is about the world you’re trying to help create. A strong vision keeps you grounded when the day to day work feels messy, slow, and sometimes discouraging.

There’s a quote often shared by Bill Gates called Amara’s Law: most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in ten. This is especially true when starting a nonprofit.

In the first year, you may feel frustrated by how slowly things move. How long paperwork takes. How many conversations it takes before someone understands what you’re trying to build. But if you stay with it, stay grounded in your mission, and keep showing up, the ten year impact can be far beyond anything you imagined at the beginning.

Nonprofits are not built in sprints. They are built in decades.

Tip 4: Branding matters, but meaning matters more
Yes, you’ll eventually need a name, a logo, and a tagline. But those things should grow out of your purpose, not replace it. When we created the Giving Connection logo, we didn’t start with colors or fonts. We started with meaning.

The triangle shape in our logo represents Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s also the symbol used to represent a defendant in a courtroom, a nod to my time as a public defender and the people I served. And the word “Giving” is written in my grandmother’s handwriting, a quiet reminder that care, community, and showing up for others started long before this organization did. None of that was accidental.

Your brand should tell a story before you ever say a word.

In the workbook, I encourage people to use simple tools like Canva to experiment with logos and slogans. Not to create something flashy, but to create something aligned. Something rooted in your mission, your values, and the people you serve.

Because when branding is built from meaning, it doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like truth.

You are going to explain your nonprofit more times than you can imagine. In coffee shops. At family dinners. To potential board members. To funders. To someone who asks, “So what do you do?” in passing conversation.

And in those moments, you won’t have a slide deck, a website, or a long explanation. You’ll have about 60 seconds to make someone understand why this matters.

That’s why your elevator pitch is so important.

You need to be able to clearly explain:

The workbook includes an exercise to help you draft and practice this because it’s not just for fundraising. It’s for building trust, building confidence, and helping other people quickly understand the value of what you’re trying to create.

If you can say it clearly out loud, you’re much closer to building it well in real life.

Your board is not a formality. It is not a line item on a checklist. These are people donating their time, their expertise, and most importantly, their belief in you.

You want a well rounded board, yes. Different skills, different perspectives, different strengths. But more than anything, you want people you trust deeply. People who believe in the mission and believe that you are the right person to lead it.

I can say without hesitation that my board is what keeps me going.

Our Board of Trustees is a female led group made up largely of fellow Stanford alumni whose backgrounds span strategy, operations, marketing, technology, law, and community leadership. They ask hard questions. They push our thinking. They open doors. They celebrate wins. They offer perspective when I feel stuck. And they remind me why this work matters when things feel heavy.

They have helped shape our strategic plan, refine our messaging, strengthen our partnerships, and think bigger than I would on my own. They have also been the people I call when I’m unsure, overwhelmed, or trying to navigate a tough decision.

You will lean on your board more than you realize. Not just for governance, but for encouragement, accountability, and wisdom.

Choose people you would want in the room when things are going really well and when things feel really hard.

This one matters more than almost anything else.

A nonprofit should never be built from assumptions. It should be built from understanding.

That understanding can come in a few ways. You might have lived experience with the problem you’re trying to solve. You might be in close relationship with people who do and are willing to listen, learn, and shape your work based on their feedback. Or you might have spent significant time researching the issue, the landscape, and the organizations already doing the work.

Ideally, you have a combination of all three.

Because when you are connected to the real experiences of the people you hope to serve, your programs become more thoughtful, your decisions become more informed, and your impact becomes more meaningful.

If you find that you don’t have any of these connections yet, that’s not a failure. It’s an invitation to pause, listen, learn, and build those relationships before moving forward.

The closer you are to the community, the stronger your nonprofit will be.

Tip 8: Define your values early and let them guide everything
Before you write programs, before you form partnerships, before you grow, take the time to define what you stand for.

At Giving Connection, we have a list of 11 core values that guide how we make decisions, how we show up in community, and how we evaluate whether our work is actually helping.

At the heart of all of them is a simple idea. We put people first.

Google has an unofficial model of “don’t be evil.” I believe in a version of that for nonprofits.

If we are harming someone, excluding someone, or not adding real value, we pause and rethink what we’re doing.

Your values should not live on a document no one reads. They should be something you come back to when you are deciding:

When things get complicated, your values become your compass.

The legal and administrative side of starting a nonprofit can feel overwhelming. Incorporation documents. IRS forms. State filings. Bylaws. Financial policies. This is where a lot of people get stuck or second guess themselves.

You do not have to figure all of this out alone. Talk to a lawyer. Ask an accountant. Reach out to another nonprofit founder. Use templates. Use guides. Ask questions. Let people who know more than you help you through it.

The workbook includes a formation checklist to help you see the big picture, but the goal is not for you to become an expert in nonprofit law. The goal is for you to build something meaningful without getting paralyzed by the process.

Don’t let the paperwork overwhelm you. Let other people’s expertise lighten the load.

Passion might be what gets you started, but it won’t be what sustains you.

If you want your nonprofit to be here next year and ten years from now, you need to think early about how it will be supported. That doesn’t mean you need a perfect funding plan on day one. It means being honest about what you have the capacity to manage and what will actually work for your organization.

For some nonprofits, that looks like individual donations. For others, grants, events, earned income, or a thoughtful mix of a few approaches.

Sustainability is not about chasing every funding opportunity. It’s about building a model that supports your mission without burning you out.

When your organization is financially supported in a way that makes sense, it creates space for impact to grow.

Starting a nonprofit will stretch you in ways you don’t expect. You will ask for help. You will ask for money. You will ask for advice, introductions, and mentorship. You will say “I don’t know” more than you ever have before.

And that’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong. It’s a sign you’re doing it honestly.

This work requires humility, courage, and a willingness to learn as you go.

When things feel uncomfortable, remind yourself that growth often lives there. And remember, everything is figureoutable.

Starting a nonprofit is not about having everything perfectly figured out. It’s about caring enough to begin and being thoughtful about how you move forward.

If you’re in the early stages and feeling stuck or unsure, this is exactly why I created the workbook. To help people turn care into clarity and ideas into action. Email me at stephanie@givingconnection.org for our “Starting A Nonprofit Workbook” and please reach out if you would like to schedule a time to meet. 

The world needs more people who see a problem and decide to show up. We're rooting for you!