How to Build a Nonprofit That Meets a Social Goal

Question: I’m working on my degree in elementary education and an associate’s in business management and theater. Once I start teaching, I want to open an affordable weekend and summer performing-arts center where talented and disadvantaged children can develop their interests and goals. I want to plan now so I can get funds to support the center after I graduate.

— Danielle, Washington, D.C.

Danielle: What a cool idea. It seems that your goal is already influencing how you approach your education. That’s smart.

You also seem to be thinking about this in the context of a business. Your vision is shared by a growing number of entrepreneurs who consider themselves "social entrepreneurs" — building a business as a means to further a social goal.

Rather than lurch from grant to grant, these founders are starting for-profit/nonprofit hybrids and applying business tactics to expand their reach and make better use of available resources. They’re embracing the wave of productivity savings unleashed in the economy in the 1990s — new information technologies, smarter financing strategies, savvy alliances.

By PAULETTE THOMAS

Full Story: http://www.startupjournal.com/columnists/startupqa/20050103-qa.html?sjcontent=mail