Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

So...I am a start-up non-profit organization. We are still in our infancy but growing well. I ran into a little issue today...a family friend expressed concern over the staying power of the nonprofit and her making a donation. I tried to kindly express that donations are what determine (not fully but you get the idea) the staying power of the non-profit (if it is a 501(c)3).

How have some of you overcome the stigma of EVERYONE elses failures!? It seems like the idea of a start-up failing makes it VERY hard to get people to take you seriously, even if the idea is a firm one!

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this...and how they overcame this issue!? 

-------------------------

Leah Tucker

Leah,
When we started our education foundation we ran into the same
problems. "What`s going to happen to my money when you dissolve?"
Love that negativity! We ended up promising that should the E Cubed
Foundation end up having no staying power then all donations would be
handed over to the Community Foundation to be used for educational
purposes for all of our rural schools. This seemed to appease the
naysayers and I am happy to say that we are still going strong and are
now in our fifth year. We still run into some people who think that we
have an alterior motive for their money, but these people are slowly being
won over when they see how the rural school students are benefiting
from the programs we have brought into the schools.
If I can help you with any fundraising ideas let me know.
Keep up the good work
Cheers
Sarah

-------------------------

Sarah Founder www.sarahsperfectgift.com Gift giving made easy

We just had a fella from Nigeria post, wondering how to go about establishing a business. The problem is that public perception has so demolished any shred of credibility with Nigeria, there`s not much he can do. He can try to set something up, never mentioning in any way that he`s from Nigeria, and that might work.

Similarly, though not as bad, I think there have been so many perceptions of problems with non-profits, they create an uphill battle. Setting aside the credbility issues, what proof really does anyone have that donations go where they`re supposed to go?

Is there any way to form an affiliation with some established organization? For example, does the non-profit industry have anything like agents, satellites, or contractors? Would you be able to form an independent organization but "borrow" the credibility of an existing company, manufacturer, or service provider?

Nonprofits can "borrow" credibility by forming a board of directors!

We`re working on a nonprofit right now whose board members include the co-founder of CafePress, an Associate Dean at Stanford, a regional director for Cornell alumni affairs, and a person who is the head of another local nonprofit organization (one that has been around longer and that has a lot of power in the community).

That would be a good suggestion for your nonprofit too!

Yeah, we have board members that are credible...and that has definitely helped. I think the hard part about "borrowing" credibility is that the industry is extremely saturated and it is difficult to find non-profits in your arena of expertise who are willing to "share the wealth". Which is another issue...the saturation of the industry. Even though there are few nonprofits (if any) that do what I am doing...there are soooooooo many non-profits in general that finding funding is hard. Everyone is fighting over that last tiny piece of meat at the table!

Sarah...I would LOVE some help with fundraising ideas...especially start-up fundraising. We jsut finished our first mailing which was to friends and family for seed funds. It went pretty well considering it was such a small mailing. I am always interested in new ideas though...and at this point...we could use them!

I am going to start working with local orgnizations to "team" so they can use our services...and hopefully that will add some credibility as well. Thanks for all that ideas guys! Much appreciated!!

-------------------------

Leah Tucker

Hi everyone, thanks for your post. At Transpanish we offer exclusive discounts for Non-profit organizations. If you are interested, take a look at http://www.transpanish.biz/en/nonprofit-discounts.html

 

Best of luck!

-------------------------

Transpanish - Spanish Translations and TransPortuguese - Portuguese Translations.