Why bother with non-profits?

I guess I am being a bit reflective today.

I have spent almost 30 years engaged with the non-profit sector either on the front line, in development and management, as a board member or as a consultant. While I have made a living working in this industry I certainly ain’t flying my own Gulf Stream. Even when I started my first technology company, I had a team building a product (SectorLynx) principally aimed at the non-profit sector. Had we spent our efforts developing SOA products for the business sector we might have been drastically more successful…monetarily. But the mission of our company was not to build a billion dollar company, but to build a great product that could bring service providers together to benefit their clients. And we did that, producing one of the first Internet based client case management systems for the nonprofit sector. Secorlynx is alive and well out there.

I sometimes wonder at the career path I have chosen and for the most part what I have always found to be most rewarding is the people involved in the sector. Whether the staff and boards or clients of the various organizations in which I’ve played a role. This is an industry dominated by heart and not wallet.

The organizations in general prioritize their bottom line as those whom they serve and not the shareholders. The non profit industry is made up not of shareholders, but of stakeholders - foundations, government departments, non-profit community agencies, individual advocates, individual donors, teams, and clients.

The sector also includes faith based organizations, sports and arts organizations, hospitals and research organizations. Most of my involvement has been with social services oriented agencies and service to people suffering from poverty, mental health, and housing issues.

These are social purpose organizations and I enjoy working with organizations that have a mission which launches from the heart. In these tough economic times, many non-profits will suffer and this will be passed onto their clients. But there are ways to work through tough times, including the development of beneficial partnerships, using new methods for fund raising, diversifying your delivery, social entrepreneurship and working smarter.

Here’s a very successful and worthwhile non-profit which demonstrates which I’ve been saying. I’ve had the pleasure of being involved with the Power To Be Society both as a consultant and as a Board member.

If you have any thoughts on this I’d love to hear them.

Thank you.