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Do you want to make a difference? Great. Please do. But don’t start a nonprofit.
A lot of well-intentioned people are channeling their admirable desire to do good into starting new nonprofit organizations. Nearly 80,000 new nonprofits were created in 2016.
Existing organizations, particularly those that rely on outside funding in the form of donations and grants, are already competing for scarce dollars. Many of them are struggling to survive, let alone to thrive. As we’ve seen in recent years, as funding declines, demand for the services the organizations provide frequently also increases, which further challenges nonprofits that are already resource-constrained. Adding more organizations to the mix risks being counter-productive.
This has resulted in a highly fragmented service landscape where many organizations are not as effective as they could be and are competing for very limited resources to support their missions and serve their constituents.
Instead, research the organizations that are doing the type of work that you want to do, both national organizations and those in your community. Reach out to them to see how you can help.Maybe they need volunteers (and maybe you don’t really want to quit your day job anyway, but you’re looking for a meaningful way to have an impact). Or maybe they’re hiring.
So don’t start a nonprofit.