From research to nonprofit: Standing strong in a native community

Introduction: Messengers for Health began in 1996 as a partnership between the Crow Nation and Montana State University. From 2001-2011 we were funded by the American Cancer Society as a research project. Our focus for the grants was on women's cancer prevention and screening and working with the Indian Health Service on cultural competency initiatives. As our research funding was winding down, project partners decided to transition into a 501c3 non-profit organization. Methods: This presentation, provided by the primary community partner and academic partner, describes the decision for the transition and the methods for transitioning to a non-profit. Results/Conclusions: We will describe the changing roles of the community and academic partners and community advisory board, lessons learned along the way, and future plans. We will share what we learned from other successful non-profits, resources we took advantage of during our transition, ways we had to rethink our roles and responsibilities, benefits and challenges of being a non-profit organization, resources needed for the transition, why we believe that this transition was successful, and what we would change if we had it all over to do again.