The thing about scale is...

The thing about scale is that in order to reach it you've got to both be willing to keep up with the ridiculous amount of effort (and risk) it takes to build up to it AND have people who believe in what it means enough to help you get there. It does not matter if you're a for-profit or a non-profit organization with a good idea. Until you hit a point where your finances make sense, it can be a tough sell to get to your own tipping point.

But even if you know where you're going with growing your company the ultimate question for any investor is "why should I care?!" It's a really good question with no one correct answer. 

(Cool fact: Classroom Champions is hiring a new Development position to help reach scale and positively impact 100,000 students. Click here to see the job posting)

If you're for-profit, at the end of the day, most investors want to know how much money you're going to make them. They'll want to know that once you hit scale their investment will begin to pay dividends in ways it didn't when you were growing.

In the non-profit world hitting scale and leveraging an investor's (often known as a donor's) dollars can be difficult to quantify. You've got to not only show financial viability but also demonstrate that you make a positive impact; and the bigger you are, the greater the impact expected.

At Classroom Champions we're deep in the process of scaling and we have two bottom lines - reaching more at-risk kids and more teachers with greater impact AND consistently reducing our costs to amplify every donor's investment into our organization.

We know what scale looks like and we see it right around the corner.

We are an efficient organization that reaches a high number of students and teachers in a very meaningful way at a fraction of the cost to similar organizations. We use technology to scale relationship in a thoughtful, and innovative, way. We do so in public schools, charter schools and are a non-controversial program that helps teachers implement social and emotional learning into their local curriculum.

Why should someone care?

Today we work with more than 4,500 students in under-served communities across the U.S. and Canada. We partner with teachers in public and public charter schools to create a culture of success. We provide classrooms Olympic and Paralympic role models for an entire school year, donate technology to schools, train and support teachers, and engage families.

Tomorrow we'll be working with 100,000 students and our costs per student will be 42% of what they are today. Reaching scale at Classroom Champions is about impacting 22x students at only 9.5x the cost, and doing it in more impactful ways than we did when we were smaller.

According to the Brookings Institute, every dollar spent on social and emotional learning yields an eleven dollar return to society. I'm excited that this is what scale looks like to us and is an argument that any savvy investor appreciates.

To get there we'll be implementing numerous tactics and creating new programming to reach more and impact greater. And today, we're hiring the position that's going to help us get there.

Do you know someone who helps non-profits fund raise? Have you worked with someone at a non-profit that really impressed you and you think they'd be up for the task of helping grow Classroom Champions? If you do - please pass along the below link.

Director of Development/ Chief Development Officer Position: https://www.idealist.org/view/job/8P5pfH28bxjd/

Achieving scale is an amazing triumph for any organization. At Classroom Champions reaching scale will mean more impact and greater social return on investment for all of our donors. 

How are you looking at scale in your organization and why should someone care? If you've got those two things down, the rest is just hard work... and a bit more hard work.