Is the Non-Profit model broken?

As I worked on The Confluencers over 5 years it felt more like a start-stop-crash-burn-start-again merry-go-round rather than that smooth exponential growth path most entrepreneurs aspire to.

The problem? Consistency.

Recently (just under two years ago) I became a parent.

Parenting teaches you consistency.

Babies are permanent. You can't undo them. You can't put them on pause. They need you to be there as a parent day in and day out, for the rest of your life.

I have been doing the same good morning routine with my son every day since he was born - that's 616 days. That's consistency!

Raising a child takes consistency and resources (like time, energy, patience, money).?

Building a FOR PROFIT business takes consistency and resources.

Instead, our current model for Non-Profits seems to assume that charities are somewhat different. And can achieve the impossible WITHOUT consistent long term resources.?

Is that really what we all believe??

What does it really take to build a Non-Profit?

You might say...

A great leader.

Resources and staff that have time and know what they are doing.

A clear mission.

Grit. Resilience. Never giving up. Consistency.

Hope and a sense of humour.

And of course Funding. Ideally the unrestricted, trusting long-term type.

Founding and growing a charity takes consistency and resources.

Solving the worlds' most wicked and complex social, environmental and governance problems is no different.

Long-term lasting change in social, environmental and governance issues just can't happen if the organisations we are using to tackle?these issues can't work at it consistently and have to stop, start, hire, re-hire because they don't have the right funding or staff or resources.

The current model of charity is not working. At least not for most small to medium charities doing amazing work but struggling to pay core staff salaries every month.

So can we evolve the current Non-Profit model that assumes total dependance on funders, philanthropist donors so that it gets Non-Profit missions what they need?

Is #Shiftthepower and changing the nature of the relationship through #trustbasedphilanthropy, #flexiblefunding or #RelationalImpactBasedFundraising the answer?

Is it changing taxation models so that Non-Profits can monetise their expertise more freely and create more revenue streams without facing bureaucratic hurdles?

Is it long-term paths into social business, Community Interest Companies, B-Corps?

Is it twinned CSR charity branches & businesses where a business arm makes profit to fund less profitable work?

Is it business/government recognising charities are filling a gap in the provision of essential social services and scaling effective charity programmes into government efforts or taking on charities are government framework service providers a solution?

Is it #blendedfinance?

I don't know.

But I am pooling together a group of Non-Profit founders and leaders that believe that achieving Non-Profit long term financial security and self-reliance is a challenge worth discussing and want to brainstorm and share ideas, resources and solutions together.

If you share this interest you can join this new community here. It's free. Conversations kick-off 1st June.

Hope to see you there and continue this conversation!