Preinstallation questions

I’m with a new non-profit neighbourhood association in downtown Toronto, Canada and have seen what one of the Canadian political parties have done with WordPress. Impressive and fits our needs.

I’m on an Intel Mac running 10.6.4 running from my home. My coding skills are modest and somewhat out of date. I have considerable experience in FileMaker Pro but not SQL or MySQL, and none at all in PHP. As it happens, I have a static IP already installed.

Am I correct in assuming we’ll need to have the computer hosting WordPress running 24/7, ideally on a server? I’m happy to get this project started on this Mac at home, but not to have it running here indefinitely. What guidance can you offer. Remember we’re just getting underway and have yet to develop our funding.

With kind regards,