Launching a new Non-profit organization, based solely on your heart-felt Vision, is not a strategy for success. Robin Morgan feels that there are five (5) things which are essential to starting a non-profit successfully. Too many people have a deep passion, start a non-profit, and falter due to a lack of proper, pre-launch preparation. If you let it, bad prep will prevent a good idea from coming to fruition. Be prepared and be successful.
- Practicing the 5 habits set forth in this post will allow you to position yourself to succeed, without facing unnecessary ditches and dead ends.
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Robin Morgan
Passion and vision
This comes naturally to those who desire to start a non-profit organization. Most people who choose to launch a non-profit have a deep passion! If you ask the Founder of a non-profit organization why they started it, the chief reason given will flow from this passion. It’s what drove them to start it. It’s what drives them to keep on running it.
What’s going through the mind of the typical founder of such an organization before they open their doors? Two things which often spark this passion:
- No one else is doing it, I’ll do it!
- They’ve personally been through a situation where they couldn’t be helped and they think: ‘You know what, I’m gonna help do something about this. I’m gonna help people trapped in similar situations’.
While your passion comes naturally, put it on paper; write a Mission for the organization you envision. The Mission of your prospective organization will flow in large part from your vision. However, just channeling one’s visions of grandeur is not the path to successfully spearheading a non-profit. Several other habits must also be practiced before you can make your move the right way.
Get training in the basic skills of running a non-profit
While virtually all founders have the passion, what many don’t have is a good knowledge of leadership, management, and finance, and all the other things that go with effectively running a non-profit organization. If someone opens the doors of their non-profit, and is relying only on the merits of their Mission, however grand, it takes a very short time for the money to go away.
- No cash, no mission. No mission, no organization.
So, educate yourself before you make the final decision. Seek out a non-profit consortium or place where you can get go and get free (or low-cost) training in the basics needed to start and run a non-profit organization or small business. Again, It takes more than a passion-driven Mission to successfully run a 501(c) 3 organization. You need training to develop a knowledge of leadership, management, and finance.
Do the research, including talking to people who are running similar non-profits
If you’re going to start a non-profit, do the research. Go through your local area and find out how many organizations there are doing work similar to what you envision doing. Introduce yourself to several of the Founder/Executive Directors of those non-profits in your area. Talk to them. Set up appointments to meet with them face to face. Let them know you’re thinking about starting a non-profit too.
Some of the questions you should consider asking them include:
- What were your hardships when you first got started?
- Are you federal government funded?
- Are you state government funded?
- Are you funded by the county?
- Do you have to look beyond government funding?
Most of those who agree to meet with you will give you the straight-out truth. They won’t sugarcoat their responses to your questions. Why? Because they don’t want you to fall and fail like they did. They have been through a lot and will want to encourage you to learn from their trials – and avoid some of the mistakes they made. Doing your research in this way is very important.
Funding: Research and plan for securing funding before you launch
Do your research for funding too. As important as talking to Founders who are doing what you aspire to do, is having the funds to support the Mission of your prospective non-profit. If you do choose to launch the organization, secure your funding before you start.
Make the decision
Lastly, only after you done all these things, make the final decision. Should I start a non-profit?
Look at the hours you’re going to have to put in. The sleepless nights, the endless days. Based on your talks with others who are running similar organizations, you should have a solid sense of how long a typical day might be. Is this something you’re willing to do?
- Because, sometimes, depending on the Mission you’re seeking to fulfill, your day will not necessarily stop at 5 o’clock! Sometimes, in fact, it could be a 7/24. Are you willing to put forth the effort?
LEARN
- Draft a written Mission (put your vision on paper)
- Learn the basics, which should include leadership, management, and finance
- Use a Non-Profit Consortium, or other vehicle, for training in the basics
- Seek out and talk to organization leaders
- When you reach them, be direct and straightforward
- Research funding vehicles
- After all your due diligence, is the passion still there?
- If you have decided to launch a Non-profit, draft a Business Plan for your organization. You’ll need a written Plan, a road map, to reach your destination.
GROW
The E-Myth, by Michael Gerber, stands for the Entrepreneurial Myth.
What’s the myth? The myth, as it applies to starting a business, is really a fatal assumption which goes something like this – If you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work.
Now, as it relates to starting a non-profit, a very similar myth exists – as outlined in the Share section. It goes something like this: If you understand the need, the gap that is not being fulfilled in your community, then you understand an organization, a non-profit which fulfills that mission. And unfortunately, as Robin Morgan lays out, it is just not so.
Passion, a.k.a. enthusiasm, the topic we spoke about in a prior post (4 Must-have Qualities of Exceptional Non-profit Leaders) is an outstanding beginning. It’s critical to make things happen. The business part, the nuts & bolts of actually building an organization, requires real work. Effectively, beyond making things happen, you now have to figure the right things to do in the right sequence.
- The best way to frame the issue is to think about not just building your non-profit agency in Anytown, USA, but to think in terms of building a group of non-profit agencies across the nation. Why? Because that will force you, from day one, to build an organization that isn’t based on you, or a particular person you hire, but instead on the roles that need to fulfilled in any organization.
- It will force you to do the work upfront to really built a sustainable organization. An organization which will be able to withstand the constant gyrations that any longstanding non-profit will have to endure – to maintain viability and integrity to their Mission.
If you’ve led and launched a non-profit yourself, what first-year hardship caused you the most grief?
Robin Morgan offered some great insights into the due diligence and success-critical ground work needed to survive and thrive. As noted, passion and enthusiasm alone will not guarantee the success of any non-profit. If only it were that easy! So, like a Boy Scout, be prepared! Strategic focus, not irrational exuberance, will best position you to make your dream an enduring reality.
- In this post, 5 habits of people who start non-profits the right way were explored.
- In the second part of this Starting a Non-profit spotlight, the 3 things Morgan feels you need to master, after you launch a non-profit, will be explored. Look for that Your Outcomes Well post after Thanksgiving.
To be continued
Your Outcomes Well
Better outcomes through Best Practices (Non-profit leaders)
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Your Outcomes Well
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