We recently connected with Michele Whetzel and have shared our conversation below.

Michele, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

My business, 501 Guide, helps to create successful nonprofit organizations that then are able to support their communities. For those who want to start a new nonprofit, we help them determine if going through the process to create a stand-alone 501(c)(3) charity is the best option. If so, we guide them through the setup process and how to set up the organization for success in the long run.

There are all types of nonprofit organizations – education, scholarships, disease prevention and education, job training, etc. – and many of these help lift up the underserved in the community. People donate to these nonprofits to aid others in their area. The private sector and/or government sector cannot do all that needs to be done, so those with a vision for giving a hand up put their passion projects in place to serve those who need the education or assistance. Many times, those who receive this assistance turn back around to help the next people in need once they have completed their program. They create a new cycle of betterment and break the cycle of need.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have been in the nonprofit arena for the past 25+ years and have led three statewide nonprofit organizations. In addition, I have served in many board roles, including treasurer, annual campaign, and chair of events, grants, and governance committees. I also started two new nonprofits from scratch.

I have a finance degree, so it was a natural fit for me to start as treasurer of an organization. As I got more involved with a nonprofit board, I would express an interest in joining different committees that I wanted to learn more about, and, as I gained knowledge and expertise in an area, I would eventually be asked to lead that committee. Once I had more all-around knowledge of the organization from serving in different capacities, the board would consider me for the board chair role.

My proudest accomplishment was publishing my first book “So, You Want to Start a Nonprofit, Now What?” in August 2023. I leveraged my nonprofit expertise with that of about 70 nonprofit experts from across the country (including a Harvard professor). I interviewed them and compiled their advice and cautionary tales to create a great book (MUCH better than if I had only included my knowledge) that can help a nonprofit founder get their 501(c)(3) set up for business. It is also a guidebook on successfully running a charity for anyone working or volunteering in a small to medium size nonprofit.

I am creating a 5-module video course that will take a would-be founder through the steps of setting up a new nonprofit quickly and with the least amount of hassle and without the cost of hiring professionals to do it for them.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I started volunteering for my neighborhood homeowners association and then local nonprofit organizations. Eventually, that led to leadership roles within these organizations. I soaked up as much knowledge as I could as these nonprofits implemented new policies, procedures, database tools, and nonprofit best practices.

After more than two decades learning as much as possible, I decided I would write a book about how to start and successfully run a nonprofit. My book was going to be a bit different from the average “how to start a nonprofit” book because I wanted to emphasize something I had learned – that many people thinking about starting a nonprofit should not actually do it! In many cases, running a new nonprofit is more difficult than running a for-profit business, and there is probably a nonprofit already out there doing that work. Instead, they may want to think about first joining a board or committee of an organization that does the programming they are interested in, finding a fiscal sponsor (an already-existing nonprofit) to host the new program under their 501(c)(3) umbrella, collecting funds for an existing nonprofit that is already doing the work, or a host of other, less exhausting options.

For my book, I did months worth of Zoom interviews with nonprofit experts from across the country, most of whom I met for the first time in the interview. I would ask each interviewee at the end of our time for a referral to someone else whose knowledge I should include. This became my fulltime job until I finally published the finished product last summer.

I have now sold thousands of books, and I continue to work hard to get my message out and find more opportunities for book sales. I am also working on the video course to complement the information in the book.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I first had the idea to write a book, I had planned on writing a simple, short e-book. Then the book took on a life of its own when I decided to interview “a few people.” This turned into about 50 hours of recorded Zoom interviews that I went back through to comb every last tidbit of great advice – and I had to research terms and concepts that I was not familiar with to be able to include them in the book. What started as a short e-book turned into a year and a half process that became a 190-page book.

There were many times that I became discouraged at how long the process was taking (about a year longer than I anticipated), and I thought of quitting. I was told by most of the experts I interviewed how this was much-needed information, so I persevered. I would set a timer to work without distractions every day. I then enlisted great editors I knew to edit the book, and I hired people to do the cover, the formatting, self publishing to Amazon and IngramSpark, and launching the book because I knew what I didn’t know.

It really did take on a life of its own, and I learned so much about the book process. My village then finally gave birth to a brand new baby book!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.501Guide.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelewhetzel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGxRO0IROmzf-IaIaUrNoBw