Three Things Companies Can Learn From Nonprofits

A recent trend in the world of nonprofit development has been for organizations to take a more market approach to growth and start acting like for-profit companies.  As a result, nonprofits are getting more innovative, efficient, and nimble.  But, just as nonprofits are learning from for-profit enterprises, for-profit enterprises can take a few lessons from nonprofits to make their company run better.

1. People: Inspire people beyond a salary

Nonprofits constantly rely on volunteers for many critical functions of their organization.  Volunteers can range from college students to professional attorneys.  However, unlike their for-profit counterparts, volunteers by definition are not compensated.  Without the incentive of money, nonprofits have to work much harder to motivate and inspire their volunteers.

What is the volunteer’s modus operandi?  What makes her tick? How can you give her work she enjoys while at the same time,ensure that the boring, but much needed, work gets done?  Having to constantly think of and balance these factors requires nonprofits to be much more in tune with the people that work for them.  Listening and understanding the people that work for you can make a good company great, especially in our “knowledge economy.”

2. Sales: Taking 7 “NO’s” to get to 1 “YES”

Though nonprofits are becoming more sophisticated in creating revenue to support their operations, most still rely on donations from individuals.  What that entails is a lot of cold calls, solicitations, and awkward meetings to get to the “YES” needed to keep the lights on.  Unlike for-profits, which are armed with products to sell, nonprofit managers walk into a meeting with little to trade.  To make it even harder, funders tend to start with a no and put the onus on the nonprofit to convince them the project is worthwhile.  Yet, despite the obstacles, nonprofits are able to convince individuals to donate millions of their private wealth to fund their projects each year.

What does it take?  First and foremost, the nonprofit manager must believe in the project.  They must believe that it is good and know that it’s their duty to keep the project going, because without their work, there would be a lot more suffering in the world.  Beyond that, the manager must have thick skin, incredible resiliency, and a sharp sense of sales.  After all, asking someone to donate their private wealth with only good will to exchange is probably the hardest sales job in the world.

3. Meaning: Doing things that matter

At the end of the day, we all want meaning in our work.  Meaning is the hallmark of the nonprofit.  Working for a nonprofit is incredibly rewarding because you leave with a sense that you’ve made the world a better place—perhaps only in a small way, but no doubt significant to someone out there.  Meaning is the highest order of human needs, and companies should strive to instill that in their culture.  Is Google just an advertising juggernaut or a collection of techies that want to make information available to everyone man, woman, and child in the world?

We are moving beyond the age of the cold, corporate machine and into a world where people demand to work for a company that does meaningful work and has their best interests in mind.  Not surprisingly, people that work in environments with these nonprofit-like ideals are happier and more productive.  Anyone with a future in management should give nonprofits a second look.