I am considering starting a charity for abused children but need some
questions answered first.  If my primary method of raising funds for
the children is by accepting donations from the public, could my
workers and I simply collect these donations at public venues, or
would some sort of license or pre-approval be needed to collect at
such places?  For example, I think we've all seen volunteers accepting
donations from motorists at red lights, etc.  Would I need some sort
of license (other than a general nonprofit business license) to do
that?  What about accepting donations at places that get a lot of foot
traffic, such as downtown areas?  Again, I'm speaking of public places
-- I know that advanced permission would definitely be required for
these sorts of activities if they were to occur on private property,
such as in storefronts.

Secondly, does the answer to the above question depend on location? 
If so, what is the answer for the following 3 locations:  New York
City; Newark, NJ; and Pittsburgh, PA.

Also, before getting started with this I need to know how feasible
this all is.  What would be a general ballpark figure of how much
donation money a single worker could be expected to collect in an
hour's time in such public places?  I realize that such a figure would
be very tentative, but if it has any backing at all I would consider
this question well answered.

And finally, an extra credit question that will get you an additional
$10.  What government grant money, if any, might be available to
assist in my charity's purpose?  If you cannot answer this question,
but can answer the rest, please reply to this post anyway.  You will
get full credit, and a great grade, for a good reply even if the extra
credit question is not answered.

What you are talking about is canvassing, the soliciting of financial
support for a non-profit entity, usually political but the term
applies to most non-profit work. I have done a great deal of
canvassing of the type you are describing, as well as door-to-door.
Let me first summarize the laws that protect this First Amendment
Right you enjoy, and then I will give you the skinny on canvassing.

Since raising awareness and funds for non-profit entities that have no
financial profit for any individual is protected by the First
Amendment, you will find that although specific policies vary from
municipalites, the essence remains the same. At most you will have to
call the police department and inform them that you have a registered
non-profit (which you should, if you plan on doing any fund-raising
period), and that you and others will be canvassing at whatever times
and locations. Be prepeared to share with them photo identification
and the articles of incorporation of the non-profit. You will probably
not need to consult shop-owners you are near to while publicly
canvassing, it's best to be mindful of being a distraction and doing
your best to keep clear of shops, try a spot in a park for instance.
As long as you are respectful of pedestrians, you will find canvassing
to be hassle-free. But it's really that simple. DO NOT pay any fees
that a police deprtment of municipal clerk ask you for, there is no
cost for canvassing, again due to your Constitutional rights. The
organization I canvassed for operates across the country, including
the cities you mentioned.

The great thing about canvassing is that the system pays for itself.
An average street canvasser should expect to clear $150 a day (8
hours), minus his or her pay of course. In order to ensure you are
clearing net gains for your organization by getting skilled
canvassers, there is usually a quota involved. If the canvasser can
raise above a quote, say 400 a week, than they are entitiled to that
400 plus 30% of any funds they raised over that. This incentive
structure ensures they are committed to being as succesful as
possible, and I have seen people regularly bring in $1000 a week. I
mentioned the difference between street canvassing and door-to-door.
Street is higher volume, but lower pressure for people to commit, and
you may deal with the occasional heckler. You need to maintain high
energy, a bright smile and walk briefly along with people to talk to
them to get them interested. I prefer door-to-door canvassing, because
you can have more intimate conversations with people in a comfortable
setting, and I tend to reap larger rewards from these efforts. Beware,
some neighborhoods have their own policies on canvassing, and you may
need to scope the neighborhood to endure you won't have any problems.
Unfortunately, race is still a problem in this country, and I several
non-white canvassers have had the police called on them spuriously.

So in a sense, canvassing is very entrepenurial and scalable, so it's
accessible to well-intentioned citizens like yourself looking to make
a difference. On the other hand, canvassing can be quite intensive and
exhausting, and you will expect to go through a steady stream of
applicants, and be prepared to let those go who simply cannot pay
their own way. I would advise you to explore other non-profits
currently doing work in this arena, such as the succesful canvassing
organization "Save the Children", www.savethechildren to see if
perhaps an existing organization would be better suited for your
talents and dedication. Frequently organizations such as these and
Grassroots Campaigns www.grassrootscampaigns.com are looking for
people to work in their canvassing operations.

As far as public funding goes, it will take dedicated grant writing to
get funds, and expect that at earliest you get full access to them in
a year from when you put out the applications. Here is a list of
children-related grant giving from private philanthropies

http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/2child.htm

For public funding, your best bet is the Department of Health and
Human Services list of grants available at

http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/grants/index.html

For honing your grant writing, consider taking a course from the
respected Foundation Center

fdncenter.org

An example of how your rights are being protected, from Pittsburgh:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_152457.html

For the municipal codes, see Section 8:7.21 (canvassing has a
different meaning here) for Newark

http://68.15.49.6/newark_nj/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-hit-h.htm&2.0

For Pittsburgh's municipal code, see section 601.05

http://library8.municode.com/gateway.dll/PA/pennsylvania/227?f=templates&fn=default.htm&npusername=13525&nppassword=MCC&npac_credentialspresent=true&vid=default

For New York City's consult one of the resources listed under General, 

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/states/newyork.cfm

That should be it, good luck and thanks for thinking about the kids!

Embodiedmind, thanks for your most excellent reply.  You have given me
a lot of information, and great links to places where I can find out
more.  I don't know if Google is looking for additional researchers,
but if they are I think you would be more than qualified!

I do have a couple of questions for you though.  First, you said: "In
order to ensure you are clearing net gains for your organization by
getting skilled
canvassers, there is usually a quota involved. If the canvasser can
raise above a quote, say 400 a week, than they are entitiled to that
400 plus 30% of any funds they raised over that."  I am certainly not
against paying a good wage for this work, and would actually prefer it
in order to get the people best able to collect the most money for the
cause.  Of course, for that to work there needs to be enough money
collected over and above their pay to make sure a large portion of the
money will still go for the charitable purpose.  Just to be clear, are
you saying that a good setup might be for workers to keep the first
$400 they collect each week, in addition to the 30% above $400?  If
that's the case, will enough be left over for the cause?  Using your
expectation of $150 per 8-hour workday, that would mean that a typical
worker might collect $750 per week of which they keep $505.  That
means about 33% of the money collected would actually go towards the
cause -- and that's not even taking into consideration other costs the
organization would have.  This seems low to me, when compared to the
90% efficiency that savethechildren apparently has:
https://www.savethechildren.org/sponsorship/campaign.asp (see the pie
chart on the right-hand side.)

If I am reading into things correctly, this would not represent just
falling short of what may be desired -- it might mean that conducting
the business would actually be impossible, at least in some
municipalities.  For example, I was looking at information you
provided about the city of Newark.  Take a look at 8:7-26 (paragraph
6): http://68.15.49.6/newark_nj/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-hit-h.htm&2.0
This states that a permit to solicit funds will not be granted if:
"Aggregate remuneration of all persons employed to conduct or
participate in conducting the solicitation for hire which is
determined as a percentage of the amount of funds sought to be raised
is excessive; provided that such aggregate remuneration shall prima
facie be deemed excessive if in excess of ten (10%) percent of the
amount of funds sought to be raised[...]"  So, if I'm reading this
correctly my organization could not canvass in Newark unless workers
are paid 10% or less of the total amount collected.  Applying 66% of
the funds collected towards worker pay wouldn't even be close to what
they're asking.  What's your take on this?

Also, I find it interesting that you think I should refuse to pay any
fees for the right to canvass.  From the Pittsburgh link you gave me,
it seems they require a $50 fee to obtain a permit for canvassing:
http://library8.municode.com/gateway.dll/PA/pennsylvania/227?f=templates&fn=default.htm&npusername=13525&nppassword=MCC&npac_credentialspresent=true&vid=default
(601.05f).  I doubt they would give me a permit if I refused to
pay...isn't that asking for trouble?

And finally, still on that Pittsburgh page, section 601.05e.  I
believe this section is saying that I can only canvass once per
year(!).  More than anything else, ordinances such as that would be a
backbreaker for what I was hoping to do.  Do you read it the same way?

Thanks again for your opinions -- it's really helpful for me to hear
them from someone involved in this business!