My experience starting a 501c3

A while back, I posted this when I started my non-profit, High Impact Alliance.

Today, I just finished the paperwork for the IRS form 1023 to gain charity status, so I wanted to share my reflections:

It was definitely more intimidating than I expected
There are some great resource guides (form1023.org and Chat GPT were the best)
The hardest part was the new terminology (which NTEE code do I choose?)
It was pretty rigorous and thorough.
With all the time it took to get my board's address information, create bylaws and a conflict of interest policy, and describe the activities in depth but under 5,000 characters, I estimate my time investment at about 10 hours.
Total cost was $600 + $5 to Rocket Lawyer for a trial period to generate the bylaws and conflict of interest policy (seriously, that was an excellent $5 spent)

To recap the first phase (incorporating), it took less than an hour and $220. So my time totals are 10-12 hours + $825 to start a non-profit.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about starting yours - I'm happy to help!