Don't be this person.

An email from a prospective client reads like this:

"I am looking for someone to tell me how to start a nonprofit.  I need to put my business degree to work, and I like to help people, so I think that starting a nonprofit would give me the best of both worlds."

Of all the reasons to start a nonprofit, this is the least likely to succeed.

I'm not sure exactly why people think that the best path to financial or professional success is to start a nonprofit, but apparently a lot of them do.

In "Climbing the Ladder to Nonprofit Success" I wrote this:

"How do most nonprofits start? The founders find each other through their mutual interest in a problem."

Notice that nowhere in that quote do I say "to make a living." Not that making a living is a bad thing, but it's not a good reason to start a nonprofit. 

Nonprofits should exist because there is a societal problem that can be addressed on some level by a consortium of people with ideas to solve or mitigate the problem.

There are a lot of pitfalls in starting any business. Finding operating capital for the initial year or two, finding good people to move the business forward, marketing, managing growth, and dealing with setbacks are common to any new venture.

Add in the unique challenges of running a nonprofit, and you can multiply all of those challenges by ten.

In "Climbing the Ladder to Nonprofit Success" I try to give an unvarnished, down and dirty look at the world of startup nonprofits from that first meeting of minds through the next two or three years.  It's still a free whitepaper, and I offer it to anyone who asks for guidance in starting a nonprofit.

I also offer an inexpensive service designed to measure the viability of a specific group or nonprofit idea from a financial and organizational viewpoint.

Those resources aren't going to help win the race if you start from the wrong gate.

The person who wrote that email doesn't understand the differences between the motivation behind a startup for-profit and a nonprofit. I can help someone with either concept, but if they don't start with the right expectations, nothing I say or do is going to overcome that handicap.

Don't be that person. If you need help in deciding between the two business models, give me a shout. I'm happy to help you find the right gate. 

Are you sure your nonprofit needs money?

No matter the mission, the most often repeated line in most of my email is:

"If we just had more money we could (Fill in the blank)."

There is no doubt that money greases the wheels of philanthropy, but if you don't understand the  challenges of delivering your services, all the money in the world won't help.

Take the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. No shortage of money there. Yet a reprint of a Seattle Times article, posted January 3, 2015 in the Philanthropy News Digest, tells us that even the commitment of a quarter of a billion dollars doesn't guarantee success.

One interesting quote from the article mentions that the Foundation underestimated the difficulty of achieving their desired results due to the lack of even the most basic infrastructure in the areas they were trying to serve, indicating that someone was a little short in planning skills.

On a much smaller scale, a charity working with domestic violence victims was involved in a program to provide computer training, with the desired end result being that the women wouldn't need to depend on their abusers for income.

While they had some success, their program was only graduating about 12% of its participants, and was having trouble attracting funding after the initial $25,000 grant they received. The results just weren't there to impress new funding sources with the program's effectiveness.

When they approached me to find them at least $100K in funding for more computers and class space, I had to tell them that their results just didn't justify asking for that kind of money. To their everlasting credit, instead of firing me on the spot, they asked "why?"

The problem was that they had not anticipated that many of these women had less than a tenth grade education, and for some of them, even that education was over 20 years old.

While teaching them to use a keyboard was pretty easy (most of them had cell phones and knew how to text) some of them couldn't read well enough to understand the online help or even how to find it. All the classes did for them was to reinforce the idea that they were losers, and they simply quit coming to class.

It was like teaching someone how to use a hammer to drive a nail, without any knowledge of what driving that nail actually did to build a house.

It's easy to jump from "let's form a nonprofit" to expecting that your program will immediately get to its desired end result.

Money doesn't necessarily fix the ills of the world. It takes a lot of time and hard work, and sometimes more than a few false starts before you begin to achieve results that can attract more funding.

In the case of the nonprofit illustrated above, they had to back up, add a step, and focus on offering simple basic tutoring to improve math, reading and comprehension skills, an approach that did net them about another $20K in funding from their original grantor almost immediately.

As frustrating as it was, in the end the ladies they wanted so desperately to help got a lot more out of that approach, and many (81%) went on to successfully complete the computer skills classes and get jobs.

This all goes back to understanding the process of being a nonprofit. It's easy to see a problem, but a lot harder to plan a fully designed and effective program that  produces results worthy of continued funding.

The good thing about that problem is that you don't need much money to solve it. You do need a solid organizational plan, a willingness to learn to recognize and overcome obstacles and the patience to achieve it in baby steps instead of giant leaps.

If you do your homework, you can actually outperform even the Gates Foundation, and that's surely something you can be proud to report.

Seven nonprofit dream killers (and how to avoid them)

Many good people want to start nonprofits. They usually have great passion for their cause, and want to solve problems. They expect smooth seas and clear sailing on the way to their destination. Unfortunately, they often run aground on the rocks of reality. Here are some common pitfalls associated with starting a nonprofit.

1. You haven't developed a support network.

Nonprofits don't function well as one-man (or woman) shows. Start by identifying supporters, and hold a well-publicized informational meeting or two to assess the interest in your nonprofit. These folks will be your potential board members, donors and volunteers and the meetings may generate immediate financial support.  

2. You think your organization is the only one that can address the problem you want to solve.

It is unlikely that no one else has seen the problem you are seeing. Don't re-invent the wheel. Check for nonprofits in your area that are addressing the same issues, especially those that are currently receiving funding. There is a good chance that you may find not only kindred spirits, but organizations that are already dealing effectively with the issues that you can join. If no one else is in the arena, there is probably a good reason why they aren't.

3. You believe it is easy to get money to support the organization.

You may be willing to invest every dime you have in your organization, but the world of nonprofit funding is competitive and notoriously difficult to access for fledgling organizations, particularly for day-to-day expenses. Only about 20% of nonprofit support nationwide comes from grants and unrestricted donations. The other  80% is up to you to figure out.

4. You haven't researched the skills needed to operate the organization.

The mission is important, but it takes real-world business skills to achieve success and longevity. There are serious legal, financial and administrative aspects involved in being a nonprofit. If you don't have all the skills needed, you will need to attract or hire people that can fill in the blanks.

5. You are easily frustrated when things don't immediately go your way.

Growing a viable nonprofit is often arduous, expensive, frustrating and time-consuming. Starting a nonprofit is not the place to find instant gratification.

6. You think it will be an easy way to create a paying job for yourself.

Founders usually form part of the board of directors, since their goal is (or should be) to guide and expand the organization. Board members normally don't and can't receive a salary for serving on the board. If you can accept being an employee of the nonprofit as the CEO or executive director and understand the potential risks associated with that, there may be income potential, but it isn't a sure thing.

7. You don't have a coherent plan for long-term success.

You may know what you want to accomplish, but you need to have a way to get there. The time you spend on a five-year plan now will save you innumerable wasted and expensive hours spent in crisis management later.

Knowledge really is power. Know what you are getting yourself into before you start. For more in-depth insight into the realities of starting a nonprofit, I offer a free whitepaper, "Climbing the Ladder to Nonprofit Success". Request your copy at granthelp@ida.net. If you need assistance  in implementing or understanding  any of the steps, or just have a comment, drop me a line. Want to know more about my services? You can view my website here.