Qualifying as a 501(c)(3) not for profit with a social networking component in business model

There are lots of sites that tell you how to form a 501c3, but I recommend going straight to the authority: http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=96099,00.html. As for how you turn an entity that seems entirely like a social network (or so you describe it) into something that would otherwise qualify for tax exempt status, I do not know. However, a place to start may be to determine how the IRS would go about splitting up any receipts that would come in. How would they determine what was educational/charitable vs. what is not. I have had good luck calling my local IRS office in the past - just don't give them your intended business name :). If it turns out that you can make money via educational events in your genre (entrepreneurial education) then perhaps you simply need to make those revenues greater than x% of the entity's total revenues. But again i would suggest calling your IRS office and asking them directly.