How do you go about opening a thrift shop. -

I have wanted to start a thrift shop for a very long time - wanting to raise money for a very long time. I have no idea how to get a non-profit selling license, how to go about signing the charity up, what reports have to be turned into who at what interval, and how to get capital to start. How do I get started and find out these questions?

Thunder, increasingly nonprofits are (smartly) looking for ways to earn revenue, which of course keeps them from having to constantly be asking donors for additional money. A quick example: One organization I ve recently learned about -- Atlanta s Project Open Hand -- realized that as it was cooking meals for delivery to home-bound people it had built kitchen capacity and know-how. So, Open Hand created Good Measure Meals, a healthy-eating program that delivers meals to paying customers. Good Measure has been so successful that it has expanded beyond Atlanta to Savannah and Athens. Suddenly, Open Hand has a great source of earned revenue.Your thrift shop could provide a similar source of revenue for a worthy nonprofit. But you need to take it step by step:-- First, create a business plan as if you were developing a for-profit business. The model shouldn t be all that different except for the tax and filing requirements; in other words, the business rationale must be there. Calculate start-up capital needs, cash flow projections, etc. You might use one of the business plans easily found online for free.-- Second, figure out which nonprofits you want to support AND which ones could use a source of earned income. You might ask the community foundation in your area or the center for nonprofits; most major American cities have both. Generate a hit list of nonprofits, starting with the ones that are closest to meeting both the who do I want to support goal and the who needs earned income most goal.-- Third, as professionally as you can, present your idea to the top 3 nonprofits on your list. Create a PowerPoint that tells the story, and shows how your idea coupled with their nonprofit mission would build value. This is not unlike a high-quality business presentation, i.e. a sales proposal for a potential buyer.You need to know the basic structure of nonprofits in order to pull this off. I recommend spending some time learning what nonprofits are required to do -- how they file and register, how income must be reported, etc. A good site for that is here, at the National Center for Charitable Statistics: http://nccs.urban.org/projects/ucoa.cfmGood luck with your worthy venture, Thunder.