Fast Forward’s Post

Emerging non-profit startups are making a huge impact in different sectors in the vibrant New York landscape. Want to know who's leading the change? Check out our latest feature on the rising stars of the non-profit world.🚀💡 https://lnkd.in/d-kwENQu ✨Featuring:✨ Wellfare founded by Cole Riley focusing on eradicating food insecurity by providing wholesome food to underprivileged areas. The New York City Urban Debate League dedicated to promoting and fostering debate education in New York. Humbler.co created by Adam Ignotofsky, an innovative company making waves in the marketplace. Shop Repurpose, an organization that resells luxury items to support the health & wellbeing of women. Invisible Hands, a non-profit tackling food delivery and social assistance. NY Tristate GERD Support, a compassionate company focused on contributing to development and supporting various stakeholders and audiences. Echo started by Will Lenzen working towards making a difference. For Women By Women, Period, a social organization aimed at advancing understanding & support for feminine health issues The Sita Foundation founded by Jo Natauri, empowering victims of violence with technology. Growth for Green which creates a safe place for young women to act towards a sustainable environment. NYC Chess Connections focused on promoting the education and skills of young students through chess. These companies, driven by their passionate founders, are shaking up the non-profit sector in inspiring ways. Discover more in the article! #NonProfitStartups #NewYorkStartups #SocialImpact #EmergingLeaders

Fund Nonprofits like Startups 💶 💵 I've been a leader at the intersection of nonprofits and startups for the past four years and have spent 20 years founding several tech companies, some with venture capital and angel investment. The most interesting and challenging difference I've found between these worlds lies in how they're funded and what that can enable or restrict. Startups receive funding to test an idea in the real world. Founders focus on identifying the most effective and unique way to solve a big problem with that capital, as quickly as possible. Pre-Series A funding is often used to find product-market fit, for good reason. Before the capital comes in, and before any real-world testing can be done, it's nearly impossible for a startup to claim with certainty that they have the know-how and blueprint to solve the problem. This is why many startups make big pivots early on, even changing their name and mission; those tests and changes enable the company to get closer to their ‘how’. Now, let’s look at nonprofits. Nonprofits primarily receive ‘earmarked’ funding. These are grants and major donations that task the nonprofit to execute a specific initiative. There is an underlying assumption that the nonprofit already knows its ‘how’ and only needs the funds to execute, with little contractual room for testing, experimentation, or pivots. Both startups and nonprofits are created to solve big problems in the world. Many of the problems that nonprofits tackle, such as hunger, illiteracy, gender inequality, and deforestation, do not have clearly defined ‘hows’. If they did, they would’ve been solved by now. Nonprofits, like startups, have their why and seek the how, over and over again. Earmarked nonprofit funding severely restricts the ability for nonprofits to achieve their ‘problem solution’ fit. More often than not, it really looks like ‘problem solutions’ fit. But to get there, nonprofits need flexible and less restrictive funding. Socially, they need the grace to test, fail fast, and keep testing towards sustainable and effective solutions. At Founderland, we’ve had the privilege and opportunity to explore both earmarked and unrestricted funding. The unrestricted funding we’ve received has enabled us to go much further than we could have imagined. The clock ticks with both, but the ability to navigate with some dexterity and pivoting has enabled us to produce many solutions to the thorny problem of gender and racial inequality in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. And we’re just getting started (so please, keep funding us!). Donors, trust the nonprofits that you fund, and fund them to nimbly chase their how. The truth is, we only get closer to knowing what we’re doing, by undergoing a lot of trial and error with grace. 📷 Katja Hentschel

Ditto to all of this. Deborah Choi - thanks for sharing. In my first six months studying, working, and collaborating with nonprofit and social impact teams across different sectors, I’ve been surprised to learn from multiple players across countries that funding continues to be the one area that limits nonprofits instead of enabling them. In building rules we cut their wings instead of creating guardrails that empower them to think as boldly as the problems they are facing and tackling head on. Funders and donors expect and demand that their dollars are strictly used for program design and execution as if this is the only way their dollars are put to good use. In the meantime they limit the organization’s creativity, intrapreneur spirit, and ability to innovate. Achieving societal level outcomes requires more than programs. It requires a mix of some of the following: 1) the right talent at the right salary brackets (we really gotta stop underpaying these professionals while expecting them to give their life away to the mission) 2) awareness campaigns and advocacy strategies 3) tech and AI strategies and operational efficiencies 4) collaboration/sharing of best practices and information across industries, sectors, and organizations Am I missing anything? What else is needed to achieve big impact? How can we lower the funding restrictions to these organizations?

"The future of financing and funding nonprofits is all about adapting, innovating, and embracing new ways of doing things. It's about finding smart solutions that help us make a big impact, especially in communities that need more support. We must think outside the box to give these organizations the necessary resources to do amazing things." As someone deeply involved in the nonprofit world, I've seen firsthand how we often overlook the power of innovation in the public and third sectors. We're so used to looking at business innovations that we must remember that nonprofits must evolve, too. But here's the thing: how we fund nonprofit innovation needs a massive update. We can't stick to the old ways if we want these organizations to thrive and meet the needs of the 21st century. We need funding models as innovative as the solutions these nonprofits are trying to create. This means building a support system that helps nonprofits adopt new ways of doing things, ensuring they have the freedom and the funds to innovate. What if we looked at nonprofit funding through a new lens? What if we created a world where nonprofits had the support they needed to experiment and innovate, just like startups do? The future of nonprofit funding could be bright, but it requires us to shift our mindset and prioritize funding in ways that encourage innovation and systemic change. What do you think the future of nonprofit funding looks like? How can we better support innovation in the third sector? #NonprofitInnovation #SocialImpact #FundingTheFuture

This is timely. With all the hullabaloo and brouhaha with what happened at OpenAI and most not knowing how the startup was structured, this is an excellent read. In 1 line, it was started as a non-profit which then had a for-profit entity (kind of subsidiary but not entirely) but its governing structure and board remained the same. Khan Academy and Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia are two more examples. Closer home we can look at Tata Sons and all its companies. Tata Trusts actually own a major portion of Tata Sons. Different in structure but similar in concept and vision. We saw a similar drama played out with the late Cyrus Mistry questioning a lot of stuff with is focus on revenue optimisation. What's new is the 'effective altruism' movement of which a few board members of OpenAi were part of. Even after the drama and Microsoft calling for more corporate governance, OpenAI with a 3-member board only now, remains the same Non-Profit that it was with no plans to change it. Typically, when it comes to boards, nonprofit startups’ governance structure is driven by impact rather than profits or investment returns. Directors’ core responsibility is to define the impact they want to achieve and monitor progress toward that goal. At his core too, Sam A believes in the whole impacting humanity vision as their own mission statement and in fact had no monetisation model envisioned at the start. The company’s founding mission statement stays intact: “to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.” #impactinvesting #altruism

🚀 5 Lessons Nonprofit Leaders Can Learn from Big Tech 🚀 At FutureFund, our mission is to help K-12 school groups fundraise effectively. Coming from a tech background with Square and Weebly, I’ve realized how valuable big tech principles can be for nonprofits. Here are five key lessons to elevate your nonprofit’s impact: 1️⃣ Don’t Settle for Less Nonprofits often lag behind when it comes to adopting modern solutions. While startups innovate and strive for excellence. Tip: Outdated platforms and payment methods can hinder donor support. Embrace the best-in-class tools to enhance your efficiency and reach. 2️⃣ Use Data to Make Decisions While values guide us, data drives success. Many nonprofits overlook data analytics. Tip: Utilize data to refine your campaigns and maximize support. At FutureFund, we provide tools to help you analyze and optimize donation strategies. 3️⃣ Keep Your Message Consistent Strong branding isn’t just for tech giants. Consistent messaging and visual identity make your nonprofit recognizable and trustworthy. Tip: Build a brand that endures beyond individual leadership changes to maintain momentum. Think logo, colors, etc. 4️⃣ Incentivize Your Audience Engage your supporters with clear incentives. In the tech world, companies constantly innovate to attract users. Nonprofits can do the same. Tip: Offer corporate matching and automatic tax receipts for your fundraisers to make donating more appealing. 5️⃣ Share Your Successes Tech companies thrive on social media engagement. Nonprofits should leverage these platforms too. Tip: Highlight your achievements publicly to inspire others and amplify your reach. A viral post can be far more impactful than an email. Nonprofits face their own competitive landscape. By adopting these business lessons from the tech sector, you can enhance your mission’s success. 💡 Read the whole article and learn how to make sure your organization has the biggest possible impact. https://lnkd.in/gGTARRgc #NonprofitLeadership #TechLessons #FundraisingSuccess #FutureFund #InnovationInNonprofits

What a full circle moment! Two years ago, I met Cesar Villa-Garcia at Miami Hack Week for Hack at Campus. Fast forward to this year's demo day, and his episode is released! I’ve been a member of INIT FIU for the past 2 years, and I'm so grateful to have this platform to share the story of this amazing organization. Loved shooting this one 😍 Tune in now wherever you listen to your podcasts! #FullCircle #MiamiHackWeek #HackAtCampus #INITFIU #Podcast

Brilliant call to action: "Fund non-profits like you do start-ups!" Throughout my career it took many years to uncover that the legal forms of organizations are one of the most difficult barriers to social innovation. Along with this challenge comes some worldview assumptions which have been expertly challenged by Dan Pallotta. I've heard and even murmured the sentiment myself, "you can earn well doing harmful work, but doing work for the common good isn't a way to make good money." Why does it appear that creating better circumstances for others is so under-valued by the standard economy? Is it because care-based labor is often gendered? Is it because the benefits of care-work are not nicely correlated to profit margins? I stand ten toes down, we must develop more transparent and intentional structures for incentivizing livelihoods and jobs which center the production of the common good and abandon systems of extraction and exploitation. The future of the creative and cultural economy sector depends on it!

A nonprofit tech startup? The story below took me by surprise, in large part because I’ve become accustomed to the ‘norm’ of tech startups making rapid, investment-backed scaling with massive profit in the end. Chasing that dream seems to be the goal. Would love to hear from the experts in my network on this - the people who were driving impact and purpose back before it was front page news in Crunchbase - Coro Strandberg , David Van Seters , Joel Solomon, what are your thoughts? #impactinvesting #nonprofit #brandstrategy #brandsinvestorslove

Blackbaud, the preeminent software provider for the social impact sector, today unveiled a significant investment in Momentum, an innovative AI startup. Momentum, known for its pioneering use of artificial intelligence in fundraising, is a distinguished Blackbaud partner and a notable graduate of Blackbaud’s Social Good Startup tech accelerator program. The investment forms part of Blackbaud’s broader Intelligence for Good® initiative, aiming to enhance the AI-enabled solutions available on the Blackbaud Marketplace. This strategic move is set to accelerate product delivery and embed advanced AI capabilities within Blackbaud’s offerings. A key aspect of this partnership is Momentum’s integration with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, which promises to revolutionize fundraising and stewardship processes for Blackbaud customers. Blackbaud is a software provider serving nonprofit and education sectors. Its solution helps accelerate the impact in fundraising and support nonprofit accounting. Momentum, established by a team of behavioural scientists from Duke’s Center for Advanced Hindsight, launched its first solution in 2019. The firm has quickly made its mark by developing AI-driven tools that foster enduring connections between impactful charities and their benefactors.