A group of homeschool leaders was recently polled with the question: What was most intimidating thing about launching a new homeschool group?
Here are their replies:
Finding a board of unrelated people.
Some of the comments included that the board needed to be “do-ers” not just rubber-stamp or figure-heads. These boards were people who actually did the work of running a homeschool organization!
Finding three unrelated people who are not compensated by the organization proved challenging as well. See these blog posts about the difficulties in paying board members.
- How can our board members lead and get paid for it?
- Compensation to homeschool board members is taxable income
- Compensating board members can be troublesome!
Some leaders in the survey complained that parents seemed to only care about their own children and their own needs, and not the group as a whole.
HomeschoolCPA, Carol Topp, and Becky Abrams from HomeschoolLeaders.com teamed up to create a 3 video set to train your board in how to do its job and run a successful homeschool group.
Finding a facility
Many homeschool group meet in churches. Churches usually have available space during the week, classrooms, large group space, etc. But more and more churches seem reluctant to support homeschooling or to let 100+ children and parents use their space on a weekly basis. The homeschool groups are even willing to pay rent and get their own insurance, but some churches are reluctant to open their doors.
Then there is the complication that some homeschool groups look like nonprofit co-ops, but are actually businesses (like Classical Conversations groups) and using a church for their business operation could endanger the church’s property tax exemption. See FAQ on Church Use by Homeschool Groups.
And some churches may need to comply with their state’s daycare or childcare licensing, especially if the children are dropped off or meet for too many hours in a day.
See this blog post on Is Your Homeschool Group Running a Daycare?
Filing the correct documents with their state
It might be confusing to know what your state requires by way of reports to be filed. Each state is different and nonprofit organizations may have to satisfy the reporting requirements of two or three state agencies, typically the department of Revenue, Secretary of State and the Attorney General Charities Division.
To help you understand state reports, HomeschoolCPA offers a webinar IRS and State Filings for Your Homeschool Nonprofit.
Fear of messing it up
There is so much to learn about starting and running a homeschool organizations.
There two resources will be a great help to you:
Facebook Group for Homeschool Group Leaders nearly 3,000 homeschool groups leaders share their experiences, answer questions and support one another.
If you need more specific help, please contact one of HomeschoolCPA’s Recommended Homeschool Group Consultants. They will arrange a phone or Zoom consultation and discuss your questions and options.
Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com