Revenue Models

Feb 2010 Social Entrepreneur Unconference session called by Andrea Schneider

Community weaving model - training community weavers in communities creates revenue.

Andrea interested in how to monetize some of the social good that's happening?

organizationally and personally how do we make doing good financially viable?

entreneurship 101: Make stuff that people want - BUT how do you package good works in a way that makes people want to pay them.

Laurence worked for a non-profit that earned revenue through managing a high-end speaker network.

Nonprofit bookshop/giftshop example - products sourced from a jury that judged local artisan products

Could small nonprofits benefit from a jointly paid development director?

Patagonia - 1% for the planet: What about a group of entrepreneurs who want to give 1% to people? Could 1 org collect donations and manage a portfolio of nonprofit investments? --> do people trust a small org to do that?

Collaboration only works when people want to do things the same way. How to work together as small non-profits?

-.... power out on computer

Ours is an odd marketplace - comparing poverty alleviation versus health work is not like comparing two kinds of soap

Everywun - hooking private sector in with good causes

People with time and money on their hands have the key ingredients to making philanthropy happen.

Maybe non-profits need to partner with business people/partners - example: Kiva calling in Premal Shah as business director

Many nonprofits fail because they don't have good business sense - marketing, money management, etc. Business savvy profit stream with compelling story/purpose to get sales is very hard.

Cooperative model?

In business - holdings, product lines and marketing strategies are very diverse and dynamic - nonprofits should draw lessons from that and understand that revenue generation requires that level of diverse dynamism - constantly.

Resource directory could be a product that people would pay for? Open source information hard to monetize - Drupal developers earn money on installation; Ning charges money for higher levels of personalization.

Shana: event model to benefit cocoa producers - chocolatiers hold events where they give a % to a region/project and let their customers know. companies pay for project management costs - public donates to project implementation.

Making budgets transparent - many orgs don't include all costs in their accounting. Feeds idea that such a small percentage goes for overhead. Volunteer time, donations in kind. etc. excluded

Lingering Questions:

What's working in business these days, and how can that be harnessed for good?

How do we describe the work it takes to do good (collaboration, aligning, organizing, implementing, etc.) and legitimize it? Unspoken power dynamic of dependency. Some progressive foundations work more in collaborative partnership - more of that welcome please! Transparency feeds that.