Sometimes individuals want to start a non-profit organization, but are afraid it takes too much work, or will cost too much money. Starting a non-profit doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cost a lot of money. The first step is hiring an attorney who can file the organization’s articles of incorporation with the state they are looking to create the non-profit in. After this step is accomplished, an EIN is obtained, a bank account is established, and a Form 1023 exemption application is filled out.

After all of this is done, the IRS will send the organization correspondence stating what type of non-profit they are and whether the contributions they receive are tax deductible to the contributor. In the past an application fee of $850 was required to be sent with the Form 1023 if the organization was expecting to receive receipts in excess of $10,000 per year, but in the near future the IRS will allow you to file using their Cyber-Assistant web-based software with a greatly reduced user fee.