Planting The Seed

Many of you may know that I am working to establish a Foundation to benefit the lives of young women in their search for their Sense of Self.  Essentially, I want to improve the overall wellness of young women so that they may break the cycle of negative self talk.  Our society breeds negative self talk in our media, family units, and social circles--I could do an entire blog on that subject and probably will very soon.

In the mean time, I have been doing some research on foundations and nonprofit organizations.  I have figured out that I want to initially develop a privately funded foundation that will provide scholarships to women who are working to improve and further develop their Sense of Self.  I can easily tap into my Sorority to get started and begin to fund women who are working within our organization.  Not to mention, college is a time where pressure and stress can often reach a breaking point, and I feel that this foundation could foster motivation and essentially help to fulfill the mission (which I have yet to develop and will discuss with you in the near future). 

Once I have successfully developed this foundation, I intend to slowly step into the world of a publicly funded nonprofit organization complete with programming and counseling services for young women and families.  That would be in the 10-15 year plan once I have my PhD and some money ;)

So here is my timeline/list, and something to hold me accountable:

• Create a name for my foundation--I have essentially come up with this and will play with it a little more here and there
• Obtain the correct paperwork and materials to submit to the government--hopefully my lawyer friends can hook a sister up with some legal advice *wink wink*
• Complete and file with enough time to create the foundation for the 2011 year so that I can work towards delivering my first scholarship to a woman for the beginning of the 2011 academic year.

Ideally I would like the foundation to fund a scholarship for four women each at a different point in their formal education.  Therefore the mission would translate across all ages of the late teens and early twenties therefore benefiting a wide range of women who can set an example for their peers = creating a new cycle.

I am listing my resources below just in case anyone else in considering starting their own foundation or a public nonprofit and just for a general FYI.  I for sure did not realize exactly what the differences were, and that it really comes down to a government distinction and semantics.  Enjoy!

Resources:

Nonprofit is a tax status not a philosophy
Drawbacks in starting a nonprofit organization
Foundation Center