February 11, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Q. I am looking into Dress for Success, a nonprofit organization that supplies suits and training to women who are transitioning from welfare into the work force. Dress for Success is established in more than 70 cities and offers support and expertise to founders of new affiliates. This is very appealing to me because my experience is not specific to nonprofit organizations. Before I make a commitment, I would like to explore similar opportunities — meaning charities that are established and offer support to their new affiliates. Where do you suggest I look for these opportunities?
A. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy way to compile a list of nonprofit groups that offer support to affiliates. The only way to gather this information is through some legwork. Determine what national organizations are of interest to you, and then make contact with them to find out what kind of local presence they have, and how you might fit in with their missions. You can learn more about the different ways you can approach an organization on the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies’ Web site. Go to http://www.delawarenonprofit.org/StartUpFaqB.htm
Because you say that you don’t have specific nonprofit experience, you’ll want to gather some information on what it takes to run a charity. While Dress for Success, which has its headquarters in New York City, offers some support to its affiliates, including help in obtaining grants, it is by no means a training school for novice nonprofit managers, says Cassandra Cramer, executive director of Dress for Success’s affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind. The national organization expects that you’ll be able to run your own independent organization, she says, and they’ll ask you to explain exactly how you’ll do that in a business plan before they’ll accredit you.
Whether you decide to go with Dress for Success or not, you’ll want to learn more about starting and running a charity. You can find information on this through organizations that offer management help to nonprofit groups. For a list of these, go to http://www.idealist.org/support.html#SEC35. Ms. Cramer also recommends Nonprofit Kit for Dummies, by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips (Hungry Minds, $29.99) and suggests About.com’s guide to starting a nonprofit group, which Ms. Cramer says she relied on heavily as she started her affiliate. Go to http://nonprofit.about.com/cs/startanonprofit/. For more resources on founding a charity, take a look at last month’s Hotline.
