Starting out
Incorporation, 501(c)(3), EIN, and your first board
For the people who run US nonprofits
Everything you need to run
your nonprofit, in one place.
Filing, funding, governance, and the software that runs it. Written for whoever handles it at your organization, whether that is a volunteer treasurer or a finance team of six.
- Sourced to the issuing body
- Dated and re-checked
- Free, and no sign-up
Start here · What the IRS requires
The numbers every US nonprofit is measured against
Fees, thresholds and deadlines, checked against the IRS. The last row is the one that closes organizations, and it closes them quietly.
| What | Figure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1023 user fee | $600 | The standard application for 501(c)(3) recognition |
| Form 1023-EZ user fee | $275 | The streamlined application, if you qualify for it |
| Form 990-N, the e-Postcard | $50,000 | Your gross receipts normally at or under this |
| Form 990-EZ | $200,000 | Receipts under this, and total assets under $500,000 |
| Form 990, full return | $200,000 | Receipts at or above this, or assets at or above $500,000 |
| Your filing deadline | 15th | Day of the fifth month after your fiscal year ends |
| Window to apply for exemption | 27 months | File inside it and recognition backdates to your formation |
| Automatic revocation | 3 years | Miss the return three years running and exempt status goes, without warning |
Fees confirmed against the IRS user fee page, thresholds against the IRS filing thresholds. Explained in full in how to get 501(c)(3) status and which Form 990 you file.
The reference
Four subjects, covering the whole life of an organization from incorporation through to choosing the software that runs it.
Running a nonprofit
Bylaws, filings, budgets, audits, and board duties
Funding
Grants, donations, fundraising, and where the money comes from
Technology
CRM, accounting, and which tools are worth paying for
Documents you can use today
Spreadsheets with live formulas, and Word files with the reasoning written into them, 21 in all. No email required for any of them, and the full text of each is on its page as well as in the file.
- Donor handover document template Ten sections, one form per donor, plus a handover sign off
- Donor profile template Nine sections including capacity with sources and a meeting plan
- Donor stewardship plan template Nine sections built around a three tier stewardship matrix
- Emergency succession plan template Seven sections, fillable, with a board adoption block
- Gift range chart calculator Enter a goal, get gift levels, counts, prospects and cumulative totals
- Moves management tracker Pipeline, portfolio summary with health checks, stage definitions, move menu
- Nonprofit AI use policy template Twelve sections, adoptable as it stands, with a board sign off block
- Nonprofit annual report template Nine sections with financial tables ready to fill in
- Nonprofit articles of incorporation template Nine articles including the purpose and dissolution clauses the IRS requires
- Nonprofit board composition matrix Fifteen skills across eight directors, with automatic gap flags and a tenure grid
- Nonprofit budget template Twelve months, live formulas, income and expense lines already set up
- Nonprofit business plan template Eleven sections including three-year budget and pipeline tables
- Nonprofit bylaws template Ten articles, placeholders in brackets, ready to edit
- Nonprofit chart of accounts template Full numbered account list plus a functional expense worksheet
- Conflict of interest policy template Six articles plus an annual acknowledgement form to circulate
- Nonprofit donation letter templates Six letters with the IRS substantiation wording built in
- Nonprofit financial statements template Three linked statements with live formulas
- Nonprofit fundraising plan template Eleven sections with retention, pipeline and board involvement tables
- Nonprofit grant proposal template Ten sections plus cover summary and project budget tables
- Nonprofit internal controls and policies template Eight policies including financial controls, whistleblower, retention and gift acceptance
- Nonprofit strategic plan template Ten sections with priority blocks, owners and review schedule
Bylaws, policies and articles of incorporation govern real disputes about money and control. Each carries a note saying so, and each should be read by a nonprofit attorney before you adopt it.
Free tools
No signup, no email, no account. The answer is the product, so it is not held behind a form.
Calculator
How much of a donation actually reaches you?
Compare what each payment route costs on any gift size. The cheapest
option on a $500 donation is often the most expensive on a $15 one.
Runs in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Index
Every page, in one list
Every page by subject and by format, from guides and templates through to
the statistics. The fastest route if you already know what you are
looking for.
Recently verified
Every page carries the date it was last checked against its sources. These are the most recent.
How we work
Three commitments, each with a page behind it rather than a line of copy.
Sourced, not summarised
Figures come from the body that issued them, with the year attached, and every page carries the date it was last checked. Where a number could not be confirmed at the source, the page says so rather than quoting one from a comparison site.
Judged on fit, not market share
Software is assessed on whether an organization of your size would plausibly choose it, rather than on how well known it is. Every entry names who the tool is wrong for as well as who it suits, and that second half is the part a marketing page leaves out.
Corrections in public
Mistakes are corrected on the page, dated, with what changed stated plainly rather than edited away quietly. If something here is wrong, telling us is genuinely useful.