Passion and Money

“Non-profits run on two things: passion and money.”

A friend said that to me years ago, when I was the CEO of Venture for America, an entrepreneurship training org. I was continuously fundraising, which is perhaps your main job when you start and run a non-profit. I was very impassioned that our work could reshape both our economy and culture.

How to fundraise? Another aphorism I was told during that period: “If you want advice, ask for money. If you want money, ask for advice.”

This turned out to be entirely accurate. The best way to fundraise from someone was often to get them involved, ask them their opinion, have them volunteer or consult on something, join the Board, etc. When they got excited about the work, they’d give. So you led with the work.

Relationships matter. What do you do when someone asks you for money for a good cause? You typically react based on how close you are to that person and how they ask you. If a friend calls you or gets together with you and then hits you up for a wholesome org, it’s very difficult to say, “Yeah . . . no thanks” without coming across as a bit of a bad friend. An email or social media appeal, on the other hand is a lot easier to ignore.

By the way, when I get an email I’ll often just bang out a donation immediately. I’ve been the sender of fundraising appeals so many times, I’m super grateful when someone just does the thing and I don’t have to call them!

One way to build relationships and collective buy-in is events. I tried to avoid having a gala at first; I thought “this is a waste of time. How about everyone just sends the money and we all stay at home?” That totally did not work. When we hosted our first benefit, many new people came out and got excited about the cause. The events were a lot of work but they were integral to galvanizing support. I tried to make them less stodgy and more fun.

Venture for America over the years raised money from dozens of foundations, companies, individuals, and even the state of Ohio. Eventually though, I started to believe that our little non-profit wouldn’t be able to address the problem I’d set out to solve, which was to restore America’s culture and economy. I know, I had very ambitious goals. Most of you know what happened next – I left my org to run for President.

I told my Board members individually. The reactions varied. A couple tried to talk me out of it. One offered to invest in a company and have me run it. But my mind was made up. I left VFA in mid-2017 to write “The War on Normal People” and then spent the Fall drafting a policy platform to announce with my presidential run in 2018.

I joke that I can prove that I didn’t have politics in mind before 2016 because Venture for America didn’t have any operations in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina, and we totally could have.

What are you passionate about? It doesn’t need to be your job. I sometimes ask in a group, “Who here has a non-profit that they volunteer for or donate to?” And when someone doesn’t raise their hand, I joke, “You must not be a very good person.”

“Passion and money.” You might not have one or the other. But if you find yourself with either, put it to work.

Forward is having a virtual national volunteer event Tuesday night. This week on the podcast, I interview Steven Kuhn, the founder of Sportspredict.com, a new way to have fun on sports predictions without having to gamble actual money. Offlineparty.com is coming to Philly, Brooklyn, Chicago, SF and LA - you can check the dates and sign up here. Noble Mobile is growing all of the time as people discover us – please do spread the word!