Putting Profit Into Non Profits.

Profit is good, whatever you do.

It’s a surplus, an excess. It’s good waste (well, it can be). We can and should have lots of profit. A profit of joy, of wellbeing, of energy. Oh, and money too.

Profit is especially good if you’re a non profit.

Profit need not mean fat bonuses, financial dividends.

It can mean more investment to deliver on your mission.

Profit can mean non financial dividends to stakeholders, the people you serve. Profit means more and better ways to tell your story, to push your plan, deliver your mission.

Profit is good.

It need not be dirty.

Or unspoken.

Where might profit come from?

Donors.

The donor / giver relationship is a funny one.

“Just to manage your expectations, my husband and I, we give a lot of money to charity”.

So said one prospective donor to a charity I know.

What she’s saying is: “I hold the power in this relationship. I may choose to give you money. I may not.” As it happens, she is rich. She has something the charity wants. Money.

But this need not be so. The power imbalance, that is.

The charity has a lot of things she wants.

She wants recognition.

She wants reward.

She wants social status.

She wants to feel an emotional wellbeing.

These are priceless things. These are primal things. In satisfying them, the charity is providing a service, almost unlike any other transaction.

Its important for fundraisers, charities to know their value. Donating money is a transaction like any other. The donor gives money and buys feelings which a new car or phone or whatever, despite their best efforts, will always fail to.

In raising money, know your price, know your value.

It’s probably a lot more than you think.