Raison d'etre

So, I've let you in on my journey moving from one business sector to another. I'm now eight or nine months into a pivot from the traditional "work for a big company and collect a steady paycheck" model and have joined the "let's strive to make the world a better place and be a 'job creator' yourself" movement.

In the course of this pivot, I have met with many nonprofit professionals in the greater Detroit area. Professionals from the Detroit Zoological Society, Southwest Solutions the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (and so many others that I don't mean to slight, but there isn't room or audience attention span enough to list them all here) have been very generous to me and given me a good bit of their time to discuss my efforts and the state of the nonprofit environment today.

Many epiphanic ideas have come my way along the way. My instructor in WC3D's grant writing certification program offered me one of my most eye-opening realizations: nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are businesses.

They may not generate revenue in the traditional "buy low/sell high" paradigm, but they still need to afford rent, utilities, supplies and professional services like any other business. It's just that instead of sales being the lifeblood of the business, it's donations and grant funding that keep the doors open and the machinery humming.

Also, instead of creating widgets for sale, the NPOs product is community impact; sometimes improving early childhood reading scores, sometimes job placement for returning veterans, but some improvement for some identified constituency is the NPO output.

Which brings me to...wait for it...this blog's NEW raison d'etre: giving exposure to NPOs tackling issues with unique approaches or outcomes. I have also learned over the past few months that there are several NPOs out there that are getting great work done in the greater Detroit area, but never seem to get any press.

I would like to broadcast their good work here. So, while I continue to look for stories to tell on my own, I am also inviting you, dear reader, to tip me off to NPOs that are approaching issues in never before tried ways and/or achieving great things that others aren't. I am sure you are aware of, or are involved in organizations who really need their stories told and I am looking to do some storytelling.

Give me a hand, and let's help great groups get exposure.

--Thomas