How to start a non-profit charity?

How do you start a charity? and how old do you have to be ?

• I am 15 and have a cochlear implant, which I was lucky enough to be a candidate for.. I doubt that I'd be able to start one anytime soon, but I wanna know how / when I could start a charity or foundation to raise money and awareness for people who qualify for the CI but don't have enough money to cover it.. or also money for people who need health insurance or something so they can get tested for the CI ... and once again i AM only 15 so no comments about " are you stupid ?! your way to young to start a charity " or something please:)

• Answer:

  Starting a Nonprofit Organization http://www.managementhelp.org/strt_org/strt_np/strt_np.htm (one of my favorite resources) Starting a Non-Profit Checklist- The Things You Must Do to Start a Nonprofit Organization http://www.ctnonprofits.org/pages/NonProfitResources/StartNonProfit.asp Starting a Nonprofit Organization - How to Start a Nonprofit http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitbasics/ht/startingsteps.htm How to Start a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-501c3-Nonprofit-Organization Before you file any paperwork, you need to get a very impassioned group of people together who support your idea and will provide some start up funding and serve on the board of directors, you need to get letters of endorsement from existing organizations saying this program is needed, you need to have data that shows your target group is in need whatever service it is that you want to provide and that they are not served otherwise, and you need to have a draft of what your first year's budget would look like (what expenses you expect to incur, what you expect to pay staff, etc.)