Legal Clarification

Hello everyone. It’s been a busy few days. I’ve been calling around to get information on my requirements for starting this type of site. I want to know if I need to register as a non profit organization or a charity to start this site. I guess my site is unique because I am unable to find anyone who can give me a direct answer.

On one hand the site will be collecting money for a cause, however I am not collecting it directly. The money received will be directly a result of selling advertising space. Therefore it’s not the same as someone making a donation to a charity where the donation is tax deductible.

The person making the purchase knows that they are doing so to help someone. From what I can tell, I can just go ahead and open the site without having to register to do so, but I don’t want to take the chance and get myself in trouble.

The only requirement I see that I will need is permission from the person who the site is helping to be able to post their information and/or picture. I don’t expect this to be hard to get.

In the mean time, I am still waiting to hear back from law guru to confirm if there are any legal issues I should be aware of before starting. I’m going to call a few local lawyers as well, but I can’t afford to hire a lawyer just yet. Like I mentioned before, this site is a personal project of mine. I’m doing it out of my home on my own time.