We are talking about what to do while you wait on that long dreadful 501c3 status.
So what should you be doing in the meantime?
Well, before we talk about the wait I want to talk about before the wait.
Even though you get this vision, even though you get this idea, even though something has sparked in you and how you can serve your community before you get into it, before you create your logo, before you create your name, before you tell everyone you got to do some research.
I know that's painful and it's an unpopular opinion, but trust me, the audience that's assigned to you is going to be grateful and best benefit from the research that you've done.
Two ways to do this research
1. Identify the issue that the audience you serve faces.
You know that you've correctly done this if you can articulate the issue by speaking to some public sector thing with some statistic from a credible source.
For example, if I am serving people who face alopecia, I may point to an issue that 98% of the people in Jessica county don't have access to education and nutrition, which allows them to fight alopecia.
2. Do a quick survey of who in the community may be doing something that you're doing.
A lot of people serve the homeless initiative. A lot of people work to combat hunger. So, you have to look at how your organization differs from what's already being done.
Things that you can do while you wait for your 501c3 status.
Begin thinking about who your audience is.
There are three audiences.
The first one is the audience you serve.
The second one is the media.
And the 3rd one is the decision-making group.
Each three of these audiences need to hear about what you're doing, but you're not going to communicate with them in the same manner. How you communicate with the audience you serve and how you communicate with the media and how you communicate with the decision-makers are all going to be different. So begin to do some research on how those audience groups look for your community and be prepared to get in their ear.