How does a group become an Non-profit organization?

Some question's on rules and legalities for a newly formed organization.?

• Organization is of Military Veterans. We will not be collecting funds except to keep ourselves in business through donations of its members. We might offer a small (maybe 500 dollar scholarship for our members kids once a year). Here are the questions but first some more about the Organization. We are are group of specialized military veterans. We have a FB Group, a Website and a Forum. We currently have 530 members but we expect that to grow by a large margin and continue. 1. From what I have researched we currently are not even close to what would be required to become a non profit. And right now, we do not want to. So, with our current number of members, our FB group, Website and Forum. Can we legally open a bank account and get a PO Box in our groups name? 2. Can we legally collect small donations, say 10 to 15 dollars from members to pay for our webhosting and other incidentals without becoming a non profit? 3. Can we legally give a $500 scholarship to a member's child once a year without becoming a non profit? 4. With our FB Page, Website, Forum, and if we collected a very limited number of donations to keep our group going would this effectively make us some sort of legal entity? If anyone knows the answers, I appreciate it. And if anyone can direct me to useful websites that would describe our situation, please reply.

• Answer:

  I would suggest you form some sort of corporation, keep accounts and have the accounts audited and have an AGM to vore in the officers, auditors etc. There may be some form of corporation that does not require too much administration and reporting. In the UK we have Working men's clubs, which are private, social club. They are owned by the memmbers and governed by a members' committee.They are non-profit making.