I continue to be amazed at that outpouring of commentary the closing of JDub Records has generated. First, I will emphasize, that this article has nothing to do with JDub. I don’t know the organization intimately, but I do admire all that they accomplished. This post is a generic commentary on the industry and the issues that have been raised recently.
There has to be some element of supply and demand in the not for profit world. You have to deliver value to your funders and the end-users of your services. Jocelyn Harmon makes this point very succinctly in her recent post Getting to Value.
Organizations close all the time—and, I will continue to argue, that perhaps more should. Can the established Jewish community do more to help organizations flourish and grow beyond the start-up stage? Yes, but automatically offering growth capital and capacity building funding is not the magic bullet. Many later stage organizations need to be encouraged to rethink their business models. Perhaps, like with for-profit start-ups, the initial management team needs to be supplemented with experienced leaders who know how to take organizations to the next stage of growth. In some cases, there is a limited “market cap” that an organization will reach and it needs to be managed accordingly. We also should not underestimate the value of an organization that does not live forever. Like foundations that are designed to exist for a specific period of time, certain organizations may chose to wind down operations once the mission is accomplished or they no longer can have significant impact.
If funders truly want to make a difference they have to be able to sift through the noise and find the organizations that are or can add value. Just like in the Internet bubble of the late 90s, there is a lot of clutter in the market. However, there is also a tremendous amount of exciting and innovative work being done that is making real change in people’s lives. Now we just need to make sure we are helping those organizations grow and flourish in the way that makes the most sense for them and their audiences.
There has to be some element of supply and demand in the not for profit world. You have to deliver value to your funders and the end-users of your services. Jocelyn Harmon makes this point very succinctly in her recent post Getting to Value.
Organizations close all the time—and, I will continue to argue, that perhaps more should. Can the established Jewish community do more to help organizations flourish and grow beyond the start-up stage? Yes, but automatically offering growth capital and capacity building funding is not the magic bullet. Many later stage organizations need to be encouraged to rethink their business models. Perhaps, like with for-profit start-ups, the initial management team needs to be supplemented with experienced leaders who know how to take organizations to the next stage of growth. In some cases, there is a limited “market cap” that an organization will reach and it needs to be managed accordingly. We also should not underestimate the value of an organization that does not live forever. Like foundations that are designed to exist for a specific period of time, certain organizations may chose to wind down operations once the mission is accomplished or they no longer can have significant impact.
If funders truly want to make a difference they have to be able to sift through the noise and find the organizations that are or can add value. Just like in the Internet bubble of the late 90s, there is a lot of clutter in the market. However, there is also a tremendous amount of exciting and innovative work being done that is making real change in people’s lives. Now we just need to make sure we are helping those organizations grow and flourish in the way that makes the most sense for them and their audiences.
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