the business side
 

I have been a professional videographer for a couple of years now, but Iam wanting to shoot a movie, I have the script and most of the equiptment and even the knowledge of most techniques. But the problem Iam having is what todo about the business side of things. Iam doing this movie to allow people the opportunity to take part in a movie in my community, Iam not doing this for profit. All the crew and actors and doing this aon a volunteer basis to gain expierence and credit. So my question is now what should I do if Iam not doing it for profit. Should i find a non-profit organization that can help me along the way then let them have the profits that we make from the movie to benifit them? or should i just go my way, then make a donation later? if I do go with a non-profit organization, how should I approach them? So for being so long-winded, thanks in advance.
~Matt

http://www.nwfilmforum.org/wiggly/grantsandaccess.php

Fiscal Sponsorship
[Non-profit sponsorship]
Extends Northwest Film Forum's non-profit umbrella to your production. With sponsorship, many grants that fund only non-profits become available to your project, and individual contributions to your production become tax-deductible. (This program does NOT provide financing)
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This is for Washington State - check out Texas State Film office for similar deals.

They take 5% out of the grant and give the rest to you. So anyone can give a taxfree donation to them, say $1000, they take $50 - and give the rest to you.

Matt,

You'll be looking at the Austin Film Society for umbrella sponsorship. This allows people to donate to your film, and write it off as a non profit donation. The Austin Film Society gets a percentage of you donations.

They have to approve of the script of course.

Otherwise, its a bit of a cart before the horse scenario you've outlined there.

WHY are you making this movie? Do you have any plans for people SEEING it? If so, then you should think about your audience, distribution, who will pay to see it, and work back from there. If you don't think anyone will want to pay to see it, or distribute it, then it's going to be a labor of love, that you send around to film festivals in hopes of accolades, and a good 'reel' to show to people for your next project. (Nothing wrong with that, just best to set expectations at the proper level for all involved.)

Just a thought, you might try SWAMP as well (Southwest Alternate Media Project) for funding and advice, based in Houston ...