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	NON-PROFIT TRENDS Chris Springer, Chairperson Association of Volunteer Emergency Response Teams, Inc. The CERT program was born in California as a way for citizens to augment the existing municipal emergency response during a major disaster. The program taught citizens to prepare for disasters and provide an organized response in the first few days when municipal services would be overwhelmed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) adopted this program nationally and placed responsibility for program development into the hands of the government and community emergency managers.
Unfortunately, many governments can not afford to support these programs. Increasingly, many fledgling CERT programs are being cut from municipal budgets. Activities following the initial training are quite limited due primarily to liability concerns. Experience has shown that interest begins to fall off quickly after graduating from a class because of poor or nonexistent program maintenance. Many governments are beginning to appoint citizen boards with the expressed purpose of developing a maintenance program for CERTs. These citizen boards are expected to maintain CERT programs using only volunteers and operating under very small budgets. Recently, a "non-profit incorporation" trend has emerged. Our Organization is one such citizen board turned corporation. The Association of Volunteer Emergency Response Teams (AVERT) was authorized by the Salt Lake County Commission in 1996. Incorporation occurred in September of '98, and in December of 1998, the Fire Department cut the CERT program from their budget. Our budget was set artificially low because we had anticipated continued support from the county for at least our first year of operations. The State of Utah desires that organizations be sponsored by a community or government emergency manager to ensure that CERT programs meet the FEMA and State guidelines. We agree that local communities should have overall command and control of their CERTs. We disagree with the statement that only community or government EMs are qualified to develop CERT programs and certify training courses. Our goal is to be the "Red Cross" of CERTs. This is a lofty goal, but not an impossible one. To date, we have collected and redistributed over a quarter million dollars worth of military surplus equipment and supplies to organized and active CERTs. We are now engaged in reorganizing our corporation to become a program maintenance subcontractor to other governments and municipalities. Toward that goal of supporting CERT programs, here is some advise for those boards contemplating non-profit incorporation. First and foremost, prepare a business plan! This plan should include specific goals and dates of your new corporation, a projection of revenue including membership dues and service contracts, an analysis of your market and a strong mission statement. Specify goals that are measurable like 1000 members in the first year, 2000 by the end of the second year, 4 newsletter mailings every year, and so on. Use these specific goals to project revenue and costs through at least the first three years of operation. If your plan shows that you have a good chance of success, move on to the next step.
	Write your articles of incorporation and bylaws in a very general fashion. Most State Commerce departments give minimum requirements for these documents. The Articles and Bylaws are the controlling documents of your corporation and are generally more difficult to change. Also, specify in the bylaws that your policies and procedures manual will control the daily operations of your corporation. You generally do not need state approval of changes made to these documents. Next, develop your corporate structure. Your Board should have from three to twelve Trustees. Your Secretary, Treasurer, and Program Manager should be Officers of the corporation. Empower your officers to speak and act on behalf of the Corporation. You should authorize "standing committees" to complete the bulk of the work needed to startup your company. Do not permit nor expect twelve volunteer trustees to run the company. You can't run a corporation by meeting for two or three hours a month.
Finally, revise your business plan by adding greater detail and adjusting cost and revenue projections to more realistic values. Turn this final plan over to your Fund Raising Committee with instructions "not to return until you have the money". Make a booklet for each Trustee containing the business plan, Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and any policies and procedures you think are necessary. Print some extra booklets to use as grant proposal documents. You must be able to show potential sponsors that you can account for every penny they might put into your corporation. This is the most critical point of all. Non-Profit does not mean that your books must show zero at the end of the year. Without a substantial sum in your bank, you will not be able to carry out your corporate purposes. Your Fund Raising Committee must begin soliciting within your first year of operations. Also, document everything. Sounds like a lot of paperwork, but that's how business is done. Our corporation is unique. We are the first non-profit corporation seeking to support emergency response programs world wide! Every other organization we have encountered is restricted by their articles and bylaws to operating within a single city, county or community. We believe that a non-profit corporation, with Trustees skilled in various emergency services, can manage and certify CERT programs better and faster than government managers. Please feel free to visit us on the Web at http://www.co.slc.ut.us/AVERT/homeaver.html, and snag any documents or gifs that might help your group get started. We are committed to helping communities and businesses develop emergency response teams and programs to prepare for the inevitable disaster. We hope you are as strongly committed as we are. AVERT Bylaws AVERT Articles AVERT Mission Statement

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