Hey Troy,
My name is Ariel and I started Bike Farm INC. here in portland... we only opened our doors on Dec1 to the public, and obtained status by MArch. We had an excellent lawyer who specialised in helping groups obtain non-profit status... we did most of the work and used the forms on the wiki to go off of. We can send you our forms if you'd like.... Having status really helps in getting people to donate everything, money, food, tools, etc. But we opened our doors without it and its totally possible.... we do work out of a non-commercial space, and I would say, get incorporated first so that you're registered as a business and then work on the status thing.... And look for free legal council... hoe that helps.