[DDN] I make no profit, therefore I suck

[Dave Chakrabarti]

Greetings, list folk,

At the NetSquared conference recently, there was a comment made by a  
venture capitalist that "Some nonprofits just suck". This was  
partially attached to a discussion of nonprofit sustainability  
models, with a very large portion of participants taking it for  
granted that "sustainability" meant charging for services. There is  
an entrenched view that foundation grant funding and other donations  
can never be "sustainable", and that there must be a return on  
services offered that eventually sustains the organization financially.

I responded to much of this. There's a synopsis on the Nonprofiteer:  
http://nonprofiteer.typepad.com/the_nonprofiteer/2007/06/ 
dear_nonprofite.html#comment-72142198
(thanks, Nonprofiteer, for the kind words).

The continuing debate lives here: http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com/ 
2007/05/some_nonprofits.html#comment-71226258

and here: http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com/2007/06/ 
philanthropic_c.html#comment-72140764

...and other comment threads on the Tactical Philanthropy site and  
elsewhere.

Coming under fire for offering services for free, by nonprofit  
funders who do not seem to understand the difference between "mission- 
driven" and "profit-driven", forces me to suggest that we, as a  
sector, need to develop stronger language regarding these issues.  
Most of all, we need to work towards a different model of  
sustainability, so that we can pose alternate definitions when a  
potential funder equates "sustainability" with a system based on  
marginal returns for services offered.

So my question is: "How do we measure sustainability if we're mission- 
focused (nonprofit) instead of profit-focused (for profit)?".

And related: "How do we communicate the difference to the venture  
capitalist, foundation, and other donor communities who we're hoping  
will support our work?".

In both cases, by "we" I mean all of us mailing list denizens, not  
our organization in particular.

Responses appreciated. Backup on Tactical Phil would be awesome (I  
think I'm outnumbered).

   Dave.

------------------------
Dave Chakrabarti
Director of Programs
Grassroots.org