My wife and I were invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit, Art of American Indians: The Thaw Collection. The curator told elaborate stories about how this fantastic art came into being, weaving in thought-provoking tidbits and anecdotes.
We snaked through various rooms, all adorned with wonderful art. As the curator completed the tour, we found that we had seamlessly been deposited in the gift shop. What struck me was that this was earned income in use.
The CMA provided a terrific tour and service. We were all enthralled and didn’t want the experience to end. The collection, lighting, wall colors, the confident voice of the curator, all contributed to a fantastic experience–one that I wanted to take with me, even if in a very small way.
So when debating whether your NPO should consider earned income, frame your thinking in terms of the benefit, the unique experience your organization provides the community or even our culture; it may be symbolized by the product or service you offer, or perhaps it needs a catchphrase, a memorable slogan or clever encapsulation of what your mission is all about.
If you’re not sure how to turn the positive contribution your organization makes, into earned income of some kind, we can help.
OC
Many people feel that “non-profit” is a less than ideal term. For instance, it has been said that non-profit organizations shouldn’t be defined by what they are not. But doesn’t every NPO need to make a profit to survive—let alone to thrive?
The non-profit world would profit from adopting business practices of the for-profit world. Take publicly traded companies. They reveal financial data, and this transparency allows companies to measure themselves against benchmarks in their categories.
Say you’re opening a soup kitchen. How many people are other soup kitchens feeding per dollar they raise? It sure would be great if you could measure your organization against certain ratios or metrics.
Plus, to have the numbers of the top performers in their sector could provide impetus for NPO’s to achieve even greater things. Or if you’re struggling but your ratios are good, then you know there’s at least one unnoticed inefficiency.
The NPO sphere is in crisis. Transparent metrics could be one solution to this quagmire.
OC
It’s probably fair to say that changing the world would be difficult enough for the 1,000,000+ non-profit organizations even if they never faced funding issues. So now that economic conditions are cutting down these entities right and left, perhaps it’s time for NPO’s to get smarter about their organizational model.
To be crudely blunt, your noble intentions and giving natures are not enough. You need to think like a businessperson. Don’t worry, your mission won’t change. In fact more money will help ensure that you’re still around to fulfill that mission in the first place.
You need to achieve better leverage on your existing resources, and come up with creative, unthought-of ideas for earned income. It could be a matter of increased efficiency, or maximizing value from (probably limited) resources, or revenue-generating activities, or all of the above.
You need help from people who know business. We repeat, your mission won’t be compromised—only fortified and safeguarded and perhaps even attained more quickly.
Not sure what to do? Talk with ColemanWick. We have one black shoe-clad foot in the for-profit world, one sneakered foot in the non-profit sphere. We’ll probably have ideas for you that have never crossed your mind. Or perhaps we’ll conduct some research to ferret out the wisest next steps your organization should take.
Tags: Earned Income Planning, earned income techniques, earned income ventures, non profit consulting, non profit earned income, non profit income, Non profit money, social enterprise, social ventures, Strategic Planning, unrelated business income non profit
Earned Income Planning, Non Profit Management, Non Profit Organizations, Strategic Planning | admin | February 16, 2010 7:49 am | Comments (0)
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