Allie Foster @ Adult Empire| Author | Post |
|---|---|
| AllieFoster Member  25 Posts 5/08 |  Posted - Oct 2 2008 : 2:54PMI am hoping that some of you in this forum would be at least thinking about joining me in my cause. I have seen some things on t.v. recently that really urked me... But I know that I cannot sit back and just be upset. So I have decided to start my own organization to raise money for ill people, to help make their dreams come true. Not just people in big cities, but the small ones that no one knows about, like where I came from. And not only children, this is for adults, as well. I know there are already charities for things such as this, but I think I can really hit home with it. I think people that may not have much time left in this life deserve to be able to grasp their dreams. If they want to live like a celebrity, even if only for a day, well I want to make that happen. If these people have to die and it is not by choice, they deserve to at least die happy. They deserve to die knowing that people DO care, and that those people will help them do what they thought would NEVER be possible. I am busting my tail trying to get things set up for this, you all have no idea. Any ideas for help would be greatly appreciated!  [Link] |
| ameelynn1980 Member 629 Posts 9/07 | Posted - Oct 2 2008 : 3:15PM If you do press forward, I think your goals/mission statement need to be much better defined. Charities---both large and small---hold a tremendous amount of potential for abuse (e.g. misappropriation of funds, etc.). So be prepared to encounter a great deal of skepticism, especially since your goal is to "help make dreams come true." To a lot of people, that just screams misappropriation/abuse. Anyway, best of luck to you.  [Link] |
| Gentlehard Member 762 Posts 9/07 | Posted - Oct 2 2008 : 5:36PM This reminds me of a story I read about Larry Kramer who started Act Up, an organization of AIDs advocacy. He said it was like you went into a room and the floor was covered with scraps of paper and everybody knew that the paper should be picked up. Then one person starts to pick up the paper, then another and finally everybody is doing it. Good luck in picking up that first piece of paper. [Link] |
| pornlaw Member 578 Posts 10/05 | Posted - Oct 2 2008 : 5:48PM I have always liked your spirit and how sweet you are. If you need any help you know you can always call me, but be prepared to jump through lots to hoops to make sure it really is a legal non-profit. It takes several years and lots of $$$ to get a 501(c)(3) exemption from the US government. Michael www.AdultBizLaw.com [Link] |
| SexyHard Member 673 Posts 6/07 | Posted - Oct 2 2008 : 6:33PM Thank you for your enthusiasm and your efforts. Here are a few things you should know. First of all, you are right that you don't want to do this on your own. Rather than reaching out to anonymous people on a porn board, network* in your community. You can volunteer with existing organzations, join networking groups, and talk to friends, family, and people in your church. (If you don't attend church, you may want to start. I can't imagine a better place to network for charitable purposes.) Rather than forming your own organization, I would urge you to talk to an existing orgazation about initiating a new project with them. (See the above comment about joining a church.) If you choose to create your own, here are some basic things you should understand. In order to open a bank account you will to have a legally recognized entity to carry out the work you are envisioning. The best option in most cases is a corporation. In most states, you can incorporate quite simply at the Secretary of State's web site. It should cost around $100. When you incorporate, you will need to file Articles of Incorporation. These are fairly simple, but if you want to operate as a charitable organization under the IRS Code, you will need to include certain clauses in your articles of incorporation. The IRS website has some sample articles of incorporation. I would urge you to read these over, and if they make sense for your vision, just use their wording. Before incorportating, it might be a good idea to form your initial team and invite your initial team-members to serve on your Board of Trustees. Once you are incorporated, you can open a bank account, and start accepting donations. In order for you to operate without paying taxes, and for your donors to be able to make tax-deductable donations, you will need to file for 501(c)(3) status. If accepted, your status will be retroactive for three years back to the date of incorporation. But do not wait 3 years to file your application. The IRS says to expect 12-18 months for them to give you a yes or no answer. Act quickly. The paperwork for 501(c)(3) status is a dog. If you do it yourself, it will take around 100 hours. If you hire a lawyer, it will cost a few thousand dollars. The best course of action may be to do the paperwork yourself, and then hire (or network with) a lawyer who will check your work. (Having at least one lawyer on your board would be great.) The filing fee used to be $750. Once you have a legal entity in place, the real work begins. Normally, the founder of a new 501(c)(3) will act as the Executive Director for the first several years. The Executive Director's main job is fund-raising and acting as the public face of the organization. As a porn star, you are in a unique situation. Your work in the industry may hurt the organization if you take too public a role. So if one of your teammates seems highly committed, you may want to encourage that person to act as executive director. Once again, I would urge you to look for existing 501(c)(3)'s that are doing work related to your vision, volunteer with them, and, as you get to know each other, propose your vision as a new project for them to take on. If you are willing to do fund-raising, I can all but guarantee that the executive director will be happy to let you do the work. But don't expect that every penny you raise will be used for the purposes you envision. The parent-organization has administrative expenses, and you would need to give something back to them. * Networking is a poorly understood artform. The key to effective networking is putting your own needs aside, and asking what the other person needs. A good way to do this is ask, "What are you doing now?" When they tell you, say, "Oh, that's fantastic. What do you need next?" (The word "next" focuses the attention. You could also say, "What do you need now?") [Link] |
| SexyHard Member 673 Posts 6/07 | Posted - Oct 3 2008 : 12:54AM A few more thoughts. 1) You didn't express your vision clearly. You want to craft some language to quickly describe what you are doing. Ideally, you will have one or two clear and compelling sentences that you can use when you meet people. You then want to develop a one-minute description that you can use if the person seems interested. Busy people may grant you a five-minute appointment if they like your short pitch. If you have a good five-minute presentation, you will find that the five-minute appointment often becomes much longer. If someone will give you their ear for an hour, and you really have a good plan, and a good team in place to execute the plan, the person will usually be ready to help you. 2) I take back what I said about a porn star being the face of a charitable organization. It could work very well in two situations. If you want to serve people in the sex business, then having the organization fronted by someone in the sex business makes a lot of sense. If you don't really want to pursue porn, and are more drawn to non-profit work, then find a good PR person. Framed the right way, the media will love the story. Either way, remember that humans are story-telling animals. You need to decide what story you want told about the porn-star/charity-leader. If you don't get your story out in a compelling way, the media will tell a different story. Be careful with this approach. If the media is too drawn to your story, they will want a follow-up story a week later, and you may not be able to control the second story. As your 9th grade English teacher probably told you, stories involve conflict. The conflict between the life of a porn-star and the life of charity is based on widely held stereotypes, and would be easy to lay out in a one-minute TV segment that you could control. But if they really like your character, and want another story a week later, they will need a new conflict. At that point, they could easily dig up some kid from High School who used to hate you and will happily defame you on the public airways. [Link] |
| 10000 days Deactivated User Keep on trolling. What a bullshit! Im fucking unstoppable now ... 717 Posts 3/06 | Posted - Oct 3 2008 : 1:23AM ...but seriously, good luck with your efforts. [Link] |
| RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06 | Posted - Oct 3 2008 : 3:21AM [Link] |
| AllieFoster Member 25 Posts 5/08 | Posted - Oct 8 2008 : 11:25PM As my efforts progress, I'll be sure to update all of you!  [Link] |
| Use the code below to link to this topic or a specific post. |
| URL of this thread |
| Link to this post with HTML |
| Link to this post with Forum Code |
