In growing a non-profit, a leader will encounter many challenges along the way. The challenges of a non-profit organization emerge just like those of a for-profit firm. In this Series, My Non-profit Journey: What I Wish I Knew When I Started, eight leadership wishes shared by Sofia Crisp with the Your Outcomes Well will be explored. Last week we explored her first wish (Working ‘in your Gift’)
- Crisp is the Executive Director/Founder of Housing Consultants Group.
- Her 2nd wish, featured in this post: Challenges I’ve Faced.
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Sofia Crisp
My background as a Realtor left me with a self-employed, for-profit mindset. Receipts, write-offs, Profit and Loss statements, etc. The non-profit, 501(c)3 world is, however, quite different. I found this to be one of my earliest challenges. In the first year, I frankly felt like I was always behind the learning curve. I went from being an expert in real estate to being a novice – as the Founder and Executive Director of a housing non-profit.
My lack of knowledge about the non-profit world left me feeling like a sponge, trying to absorb all I could and change my way of thinking – to fit the many rules associated with being a 501(c)3. The educational resources for nonprofits in my community (Greensboro NC area) were abundant. The Guilford Nonprofit Consortium was a blessing, with numerous trainings on the many aspects of running a successful non-profit. I had to be open to being educated, coached and mentored.
Next came my realization that turning your passion into a viable business requires a lot of sacrifice and research. Being passionate about a cause did not necessarily mean I would be successful. My sacrifice: Time and money.
- I invested numerous hours, going to numerous trainings across the state of North Carolina. I worked to become a Certified Housing Counselor. As well, I did the required work to have the organization I founded be HUD-certified.
- Much time was also spent doing research, to answer these questions:
- Who would be my target market?
- Were there other agencies doing similar work? If so, what could I do to differentiate the organization I led?
Money was another challenge I faced in the early years of running a housing non-profit organization in Greensboro, NC. The money spent to attend trainings, like those cited above, was my own. Thankfully, my income from nursing (private duty) and real estate sales (declining) allowed me to loan money to the young housing organization. As the mother of 2 small children, and early in a new marriage, my income fell. Nonetheless, I made the sacrifice -to spend some of my diminished income- to do what? Train myself and support the organization I’d launched. I have no regrets.
My journey became a Walk of Faith! Two things made it possible for me to overcome the challenges I’ve shared with you:
- My initial vision, of helping people through education, to own homes as opposed to just selling them a house.
- My husband and daughters’ support.
LEARN
- Admitting that I didn’t know something was better than making mistakes because I didn’t ask questions.
- Stepping outside my comfort zone and being humble.
- Research, research, research.
- Be willing to commit the time and resources to all that I pursued.
- Keeping the faith. Trusting that, if my intent was good, if I stuck with it, I could make things happen.
GROW – Taking the lessons learned forward
1. Sometimes in your organization you have to ask yourself one simple question: Do you want to be right or do you want to win. Because in an organization, or a business, there are moments when you can’t do both at the same time!
a. If you are new to non-profits, that means not being a know-it-all when reality dictates you are merely a novice
b. If you are an established non-profit, that means you have to know what you know and what you don’t know. Period. You have to be honest with yourself.
2. When is passion alone not enough? When the passion is ill-focused on the wrong things. Many non-profits today are at a crossroads due to the changing funding climate. Passion is necessary, but it must be accompanied by focusing on the “right” things at the “right” time.
- The late Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said that when a paradigm shift occurs you have to have the foresight and wisdom to see it, accept it, and move forward from a new place of understanding.
3. Take Steve Jobs (Apple), Elon Musk (PayPal, Tesla, & SpaceX), and Michael Jordan (NBA) as examples of some of the ‘elites’ in their space. Whether it is in business or in the sports, no one ever will say they accepted operating and living in their comfort zone. They pushed, requested, asked, and darn near demanded the most from themselves and from those around them. Guess what? It’s no different in the non-profit sector.
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up , it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster that the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle when the sun comes up, you’d better be running”. Christopher McDougall, Born to Run.
Challenges I’ve Faced
- What challenges did you face on your journey as a non-profit leader?
Sofia Crisp has shared just a few of her challenges. What she has learned from overcoming those challenges, and how you can grow from her story, was explored in this post. When the Executive Director of Housing Consultants Group realized that all her challenges were too long for one post, she wanted to share a few more – in a follow-up post.
- Part 2 of My Non-profit Journey: Challenges I’ve Faced will be the topic of next week’s post.
The journey of one non-profit leader, Sofia Crisp, continues.
(to be continued)
Photo Credit: Shane Gorski/flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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