Medical student with a good idea- Help!

[peanutbutter45654]

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Hello everyone. I am a first-year medical student. I am very passionate about a specific cause, and I have an idea of something I want to do to benefit people in the community. At this point, I think there are two ways I could go about it:
1. Found a new club/organization within the med school
2. Start a nonprofit

I do not know much about starting nonprofits. Do you think this is a good idea? What route would you take? For reference, my idea involves working with kids/adolescents in the community, but I don't want to get into specifics to maintain privacy in case I actually do this. Thanks!

 

[Med Ed]

How to Start a Nonprofit

Some of the questions to ask before starting a nonprofit, filings you’ll need to complete, and the policies and procedures that you may want your new nonprofit to have in place.

www.councilofnonprofits.org

Starting a nonprofit is not typically something a medical student does in their spare time. You're probably better off going the club/organization route while continuing to focus on your studies.

 

[futureapppsy2]

Hello everyone. I am a first-year medical student. I am very passionate about a specific cause, and I have an idea of something I want to do to benefit people in the community. At this point, I think there are two ways I could go about it:
1. Found a new club/organization within the med school
2. Start a nonprofit

I do not know much about starting nonprofits. Do you think this is a good idea? What route would you take? For reference, my idea involves working with kids/adolescents in the community, but I don't want to get into specifics to maintain privacy in case I actually do this. Thanks!

If you actually want to help people, it’s generally more effective to partner with an existing established non-profit. Running a non-profit is difficult and time consuming, and, as with small businesses in general, most non-profits fail relatively quickly.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

First, do some research to make sure your idea hadn’t already been implemented in your community. If all you have is an idea and not connections/funding, it will be easier to join an existing cause than start from scratch on your own.

If this idea is totally unaddressed and you have strong motivation to carry it out, you need to do some thinking on basic questions like:

1. How much money do you need to implement this idea? Where will you get the money? (A perk of school based orgs is that you may get financial support from the school. Starting your own nonprofit means doing your own fundraising and/or applying for grants)
2. What kind of manpower does your idea require? How will you recruit others to help you? (From school? From the local community?)
3. How much free time do you have?
4. Do you want to carry on this opportunity to residency and beyond, or will you be happy passing on the torch to future students?
5. How do you plan to reach your target audience? Do you already have connections in the community or do you need to make them?

In order of “realistic to do for most med students” I would say join existing cause > found student org >> found nonprofit. There are absolutely some exceptional motivated students who have the time, skill, and connections to start a successful nonprofit but it is impossible to know if that applies to you without more detail

 

[peanutbutter45654]

How to Start a Nonprofit

Some of the questions to ask before starting a nonprofit, filings you’ll need to complete, and the policies and procedures that you may want your new nonprofit to have in place.

www.councilofnonprofits.org

Starting a nonprofit is not typically something a medical student does in their spare time. You're probably better off going the club/organization route while continuing to focus on your studies.

Ok, thanks for your advice. But what if I want to continue this program into my residency?

 

[Med Ed]

Ok, thanks for your advice. But what if I want to continue this program into my residency?

Reassess when the time comes.