Sarah, if I recall correctly, you are in WA right? I'd love to get together with you and talk about some possibilities. Honestly though, the problem for me is time, I can do fundraising or I can work on cases... and for me, I choose to work on the cases. I dedicate about 20 hours a week to the cases. I'm already a 501(c)(3), but it's just the time it would take to put together a fundraiser comprimises my ability to help people with their cases, which is the primary function of the organization.
My main costs are the fax machine ($25 a month), My phone ($25 a month) and then an average of about $40 a month of supplies and medical records costs (supplies like paper, stamps, envelopes) and money paid to medical centers for copies of a patients medical records. Most months I don't even spend $40, but that's the average since some months I spend more and some months I spend less. also, most medical centers send me the records for free, a few have cut their costs in half due to the fact that they are sending it to a nonprofit but then there are some that don't do either, but i need the patients records to put together a case and let them know if they have a case or not.
Christina, I review medical records and complile an infection log for use by the SSA when determining the clients medical condition. I ensure you meet at least one, or a combination of the SSA impairment listings. I also correspond directly with SSA if my client desires. I also have clients who just want me to do the paperwork but they want to do all the correspondence. Either way works for me. I do more appeal cases than I do initial applications, but I have yet to have an "initial application" denied, and I've only had to take one appeal to a second appeal stage. I've been doing this since 2005, although the non profit just started in 2008.