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American Non-Profits Have A Branding Problem
A perspective as a Founder and Executive Director
Why are United States organizations that rely on donations, volunteerism and a desire to provide social good to our communities named non-profit organizations? In the rest of the world, they are called NGOs — Non-Governmental Organizations.
This is the current question I ask myself about the business models for these types of businesses. And now that I am the founder and executive director of one, it’s an even more compelling question.
It was at least 25 years ago when I first began researching hybrid business models for non-profit companies. At the time, I was operating a small business, which I nurtured and grew into a very large business — one that would grow to a sizeable six-figure income and sustain a payroll of about 12 people.
I owned a neighborhood vintage and antiques shop. But it didn’t start out that way. My business started out as a bookstore. I was one of the very first third-party sellers on Amazon, back when the only thing Amazon sold was books. Do you remember those days?
This was before Powells, Thriftbooks or Goodwill were selling books there. I had the advantage of being a programmer at IBM, so it was easy for me to learn the…