Running an organization without any support

[Anonymous]

So, I started a nonprofit and it grew really fast. I'm now managing dozens of people and a six-figure budget. The budget is definitely not enough and most of the costs are fixed, so there is no obvious way to simply scale back to fit our resources. There are lots of challenges.

I've never done this before. We're also doing something totally unique so there isn't a sector of funders/other nonprofits/conferences in my space.

I am a pretty good CEO - we have 9/10 satisfaction with our program from clients, a regular flow of testimonials about how we've changed lives, I figured out how to fundraise enough to stay open, staff is generally happy. But I do make a lot of mistakes and often I just don't know what I am doing. I see all my mistakes very clearly (and others love to point them out) but often I don't know how to do things better until after I've made the mistake...and sometimes not even then.

I have been seeking support but none of my friends, nonprofit donors/supporters, or staff really have the experience leading an organization. The best they can do is general empathy or "Great job, you're amazing!", but they have no idea how to navigate the challenges we face. I can't afford to hire really experienced people for my leadership team. I can't afford an executive coach and I haven't been able to find one pro bono. I've also been looking for board members and can't get anyone with experience. Generally, as I have two young kids, between work and family, I don't have time to do a lot of networking events and meet people... and even if I did, like I said, we're so different from all the nonprofits I've encountered, and I'm not sure who I'd network with.

I know that I can always walk away. Overall, I'm happy with the flexibility, lack of bureaucracy, work-life balance, and the actual work I do every day.

I'm not happy being the target of all the criticism from others and feeling like I see all the mistakes but just don't know how to fix them. Given that it's impossible to be everything to everyone, I am not sure how to prioritize tasks and manage our resource deficits optimally. I'm pretty sure other CEOs don't do it all on their own without anyone ever teaching or advising them. Does anyone have any practical advice for me? Please be kind, I get enough criticism as it is!

[Anonymous]

PS To clarify, we do have a board, but due to lack of experience, they aren't really able to support me and actually tend to look to me for support.

[Anonymous]

Can you say what your non profit does?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I started a nonprofit and it grew really fast. I'm now managing dozens of people and a six-figure budget. The budget is definitely not enough and most of the costs are fixed, so there is no obvious way to simply scale back to fit our resources. There are lots of challenges.

I've never done this before. We're also doing something totally unique so there isn't a sector of funders/other nonprofits/conferences in my space.

I am a pretty good CEO - we have 9/10 satisfaction with our program from clients, a regular flow of testimonials about how we've changed lives, I figured out how to fundraise enough to stay open, staff is generally happy. But I do make a lot of mistakes and often I just don't know what I am doing. I see all my mistakes very clearly (and others love to point them out) but often I don't know how to do things better until after I've made the mistake...and sometimes not even then.

I have been seeking support but none of my friends, nonprofit donors/supporters, or staff really have the experience leading an organization. The best they can do is general empathy or "Great job, you're amazing!", but they have no idea how to navigate the challenges we face. I can't afford to hire really experienced people for my leadership team. I can't afford an executive coach and I haven't been able to find one pro bono. I've also been looking for board members and can't get anyone with experience. Generally, as I have two young kids, between work and family, I don't have time to do a lot of networking events and meet people... and even if I did, like I said, we're so different from all the nonprofits I've encountered, and I'm not sure who I'd network with.

I know that I can always walk away. Overall, I'm happy with the flexibility, lack of bureaucracy, work-life balance, and the actual work I do every day.

I'm not happy being the target of all the criticism from others and feeling like I see all the mistakes but just don't know how to fix them. Given that it's impossible to be everything to everyone, I am not sure how to prioritize tasks and manage our resource deficits optimally. I'm pretty sure other CEOs don't do it all on their own without anyone ever teaching or advising them. Does anyone have any practical advice for me? Please be kind, I get enough criticism as it is!

Get a better board. And see if you can get coaching and a mentor. Apply for a leadership program or accelerator or whatever.

[Anonymous]

I am confused. Is this nonprofit your source of income?

If not, is it accomplishing important things? Do others agree that these are important things?

If it is your source of income, but it is not generating enough income to run well...and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages, but they are unwilling? Well, it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit business model.

If it is not your source of income, and you are doing it because you think the mission is important. ..... and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages , but they are unwilling? Then it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit model either.

[Anonymous]

Check out The Management Center. They're in DC and specialize in nonprofit leadership.

https://www.managementcenter.org

I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I went to a good training led by them years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Is this nonprofit your source of income?

If not, is it accomplishing important things? Do others agree that these are important things?

If it is your source of income, but it is not generating enough income to run well...and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages, but they are unwilling? Well, it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit business model.

If it is not your source of income, and you are doing it because you think the mission is important. ..... and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages , but they are unwilling? Then it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit model either.

This. If the non-profit is not generating enough income to pay professional staff, accomplish its mission, and function properly, then the business model is screwed up.

What is the source of funding? is the criticism coming from people/orgs funding your work? Do you worry they will pull funding? But also, if they are providing funding, do they sit on the board? If I were funding a nonprofit that I felt was making a lot of mistakes and had some dysfunction, I'd want to be involved in its operation. Or I'd pull my funding and put the money elsewhere. You need to keep donors happy and feeling confident in you, so if that's the source of the conflict, that's a really fundamental issue that must be addressed right away.

You mentioned "clients" are happy -- are these people/entities paying for services? Or just the recipients of your charitable efforts? If people are paying for services can you increase those costs? though I don't understand how this is a non-profit if that's the model.

Bottom line, you need a model that can afford to pay professional staff who hav the ability and knowledge to run this organization. It sounds like right now you don't have that, so I think it's hard to say this endeavor is successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Is this nonprofit your source of income?

If not, is it accomplishing important things? Do others agree that these are important things?

If it is your source of income, but it is not generating enough income to run well...and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages, but they are unwilling? Well, it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit business model.

If it is not your source of income, and you are doing it because you think the mission is important. ..... and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages , but they are unwilling? Then it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit model either.

This. If the non-profit is not generating enough income to pay professional staff, accomplish its mission, and function properly, then the business model is screwed up.

What is the source of funding? is the criticism coming from people/orgs funding your work? Do you worry they will pull funding? But also, if they are providing funding, do they sit on the board? If I were funding a nonprofit that I felt was making a lot of mistakes and had some dysfunction, I'd want to be involved in its operation. Or I'd pull my funding and put the money elsewhere. You need to keep donors happy and feeling confident in you, so if that's the source of the conflict, that's a really fundamental issue that must be addressed right away.

You mentioned "clients" are happy -- are these people/entities paying for services? Or just the recipients of your charitable efforts? If people are paying for services can you increase those costs? though I don't understand how this is a non-profit if that's the model.

Bottom line, you need a model that can afford to pay professional staff who hav the ability and knowledge to run this organization. It sounds like right now you don't have that, so I think it's hard to say this endeavor is successful.

OP here. So, it's a small nonprofit. If you know much about small nonprofits (which make up most of the nonprofit sector), they rarely pay well. Also, y'all's framework doesn't make sense for a startup. Of course when you start something new you don't have a full team of professional staff...that's something you build up to.

I worked for free initially (though I always paid my staff). Now, I make a salary that I'm happy with -- it's enough to pay the bills, and the mix of flexibility/doing really engaging work makes up for the lower pay.

And I have mostly transitioned to a professional staff - my initial team was really part-time entry level people. Now I pay market-rate salaries (for small nonprofits). I've made peace with the fact that I'm not going to get the top candidates. At the very least, those will go to a large nonprofit with income security, or the government or private sector. Still, my team is solid and do their jobs well. But they are not CEOs and so they can't help me with big CEO-level decisions.

Because we're in a sector where there are no foundations or big funders, the donations come from thousands of individuals. There aren't a few big funders that want to sit on a board - it's a LOT of smaller donors. Generally they are happy, but sometimes some of them get annoyed. By definition, it's impossible to keep that many people happy, as they often want contradictory things. "Pulling funding" is not a concern since there are so many donors and they are all small. Overall each year we raise more than the rest.

By "clients" I meant our beneficiaries (i.e. people we help). Sorry for the confusion.

We aren't dysfunctional -- honestly, we're a lot more professional than most nonprofits of our size, and what we've done after 3 years is more than most orgs can do in 10. But still, my lack of leadership experience is holding us back, and I feel like there must be some way to get some support to help me become a better leader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out The Management Center. They're in DC and specialize in nonprofit leadership.

https://www.managementcenter.org

I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I went to a good training led by them years ago.

Thank you very much!

[Anonymous]

Maybe it’s okay to make mistakes and learn as you go….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Is this nonprofit your source of income?

If not, is it accomplishing important things? Do others agree that these are important things?

If it is your source of income, but it is not generating enough income to run well...and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages, but they are unwilling? Well, it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit business model.

If it is not your source of income, and you are doing it because you think the mission is important. ..... and you're looking for other people to support you for less than market wages , but they are unwilling? Then it seems like it is not a viable nonprofit model either.

This. If the non-profit is not generating enough income to pay professional staff, accomplish its mission, and function properly, then the business model is screwed up.

What is the source of funding? is the criticism coming from people/orgs funding your work? Do you worry they will pull funding? But also, if they are providing funding, do they sit on the board? If I were funding a nonprofit that I felt was making a lot of mistakes and had some dysfunction, I'd want to be involved in its operation. Or I'd pull my funding and put the money elsewhere. You need to keep donors happy and feeling confident in you, so if that's the source of the conflict, that's a really fundamental issue that must be addressed right away.

You mentioned "clients" are happy -- are these people/entities paying for services? Or just the recipients of your charitable efforts? If people are paying for services can you increase those costs? though I don't understand how this is a non-profit if that's the model.

Bottom line, you need a model that can afford to pay professional staff who hav the ability and knowledge to run this organization. It sounds like right now you don't have that, so I think it's hard to say this endeavor is successful.

OP here. So, it's a small nonprofit. If you know much about small nonprofits (which make up most of the nonprofit sector), they rarely pay well. Also, y'all's framework doesn't make sense for a startup. Of course when you start something new you don't have a full team of professional staff...that's something you build up to.

I worked for free initially (though I always paid my staff). Now, I make a salary that I'm happy with -- it's enough to pay the bills, and the mix of flexibility/doing really engaging work makes up for the lower pay.

And I have mostly transitioned to a professional staff - my initial team was really part-time entry level people. Now I pay market-rate salaries (for small nonprofits). I've made peace with the fact that I'm not going to get the top candidates. At the very least, those will go to a large nonprofit with income security, or the government or private sector. Still, my team is solid and do their jobs well. But they are not CEOs and so they can't help me with big CEO-level decisions.

Because we're in a sector where there are no foundations or big funders, the donations come from thousands of individuals. There aren't a few big funders that want to sit on a board - it's a LOT of smaller donors. Generally they are happy, but sometimes some of them get annoyed. By definition, it's impossible to keep that many people happy, as they often want contradictory things. "Pulling funding" is not a concern since there are so many donors and they are all small. Overall each year we raise more than the rest.

By "clients" I meant our beneficiaries (i.e. people we help). Sorry for the confusion.

We aren't dysfunctional -- honestly, we're a lot more professional than most nonprofits of our size, and what we've done after 3 years is more than most orgs can do in 10. But still, my lack of leadership experience is holding us back, and I feel like there must be some way to get some support to help me become a better leader.

I'm still confused. Where is the criticism of your leadership coming from? If you don't rely on any major donors, and the donors who do have are numerous and no one is really giving enough money to have much power, then you don't really need to be that responsive to their criticism unless it's well-founded. Is it?

You mentioned a board but said it's full of inexperienced people who don't really know much and ask you to help them. That's a huge problem. Why can't you attract a more professional board with deeper knowledge in the sector and in nonprofit management? It sounds like your organization is doing good work, why aren't you attracting support from established voices in the same area, or people with expertise in adjacent areas who could provide better advice?

I think you probably are a bit dysfunctional, although kudos to you that you seem to recognize it. But I feel like you are looking for a fix that won't really cost much or won't change the structure of the organization much. I think realistically you are growing too fast and already feeling in a bit over your head, and you need to free up funds to bring in a COO with experience with non-profits to impose structures and systems that will set you up for sustained growth without running into massive problems. Otherwise you might be setting yourself up to miss something major and expose yourself to legal issues.

[Anonymous]

You’re rambling OP. Your fixes are one or a mix of these
Get a COO
Replace your Board
Hire a consultant