Anyone out there know a good resource for start-up social enterprises/nonprofits?
I ask because in the process of working on our charitable application, I realized we needed a job description for me. Here’s the rub: I don’t have one.
As a founder of the organization we never made one. I went from the board to the staff, had a bunch of conversations with everyone that grew into a collective vision, and off I went.
The challenge in this situation is that most of the writing or research I’ve found is not directly relevant to small and/or start up nonprofit organizations. Start-up business stories, articles and research are often helpful but don’t always provide what is needed.
I’d love to see a story about what management/admin tasks to prioritize over which to leave for later, what might bite in the ass if it’s not done, and systems for execution with a paid staff, volunteer board, and a bunch of supporters. Obviously we’re figuring it out but I’d love a couple more reference points. Any help would be much appreciated.
1 comments:
I think it's important to work hard to ensure that documents like job descriptions and other organizational machinery serves what you intend to do rather than the other way around.
New organizations can end up looking just like every other organization if, in their time and money strapped early days, they grab for what is easiest (usually accepted business practices since they are the most numerous and supported) rather than working hard to understand how the systems and structures they build contribute to their unique mission.
Mundane choices like having job descriptions, policies of all kinds, and a hundred other small things will deeply shape the long-term trajectory of your organization.
Lots of people talk about wanting to be innovative and different but the swirling maelstrom of normal/standard/industry best/accepted wisdom just draws them in. Sometimes they end up with cool offices or a catchy policy or two but once you get past that, it's business as usual.
That isn't bad, per se, if your work is best served by accepted practices. If, however, you are really hunting for something exceptional, you'll have to live with greater courage and less certainty. Unknown spaces don't have maps.
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