Can I start a charity, or social club without incorporating?

[ynot]

You'll need to register it as a 501C or charitable organization at the New York state level.

If you've never been in business before, I would strongly recommend that you talk to a business counselor before you do anything especially spend money. I'd call the local office of SCORE (go to http://www.score.org and input your zip code to find the chapter nearest you), the advice is FREE.

The counselor at SCORE will most likely advise you to write a business plan which is very good advice because it will force you to dig out all of the start up details and the costs of starting a charity and force you to also understand all of the aspects of this business including the customers you'll concentrate on (your market ) and how you'll go after them.

Try this link :
http://www.ychange.com/small-business-co...icles.html
and read some of the articles especially the ones about a business plan and starting a business.

Good Luck