March Blog Post

This month has been pretty uneventful. Unfortunately, my mentor has been out of the office due to some personal stuff and therefore I haven't been able to go in too often.

On another note, my research is going pretty well. I've been able to formulate several answers which I feel are fundamental. For now, my best answer remains "The best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to encourage underprivileged teenagers attend college is by adopting a different business model." The non-profit business model is flawed in many ways. For example, by law, a humanitarian non profit isn't allowed to make any profit, and therefore, there isn't much money to sponsor it's activities, rendering it virtually ineffective. The way that most non-profits acquire capital is by practically begging for money from funders (usually right wing foundations). They never get enough money out of them, and have to keep coming back for more. Basically, the problem with non-profits today is that most use business plans that make them unable to sustain themselves in an economic sense. I'd also like to say that I feel that the essential question format is too restrictive in some cases. Yes it's good that a question be specific, but the way that essential questions are supposed to be structured makes some of these projects way too specific, making it difficult to find research as hindering the ability to explore closely related (and relevant) topics of interest.

Third Answer

EQ: What is the best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college?

The best way for an educational non-profit organization to raise funds for resources to help underprivileged students attend college is by expanding their overhead budget.

• Most non-profit organizations skimp out on their overhead expenditures.
• With less money to spend overhead, non-profits aren't able to afford the services and items they might need to keep the organization running fluidly. 
• A larger overhead budget means that employees are better payed, resulting in better services provided and increased productivity.
• A better payed employee is always a harder working employee.
• Larger overhead spending means that non-profits are less prone to under-report their spending.
• Under-reporting leads to funders providing NPO's with less money to spend overhead, therefore putting more burden on NPO's. They must work harder with less money to make up the deficit. 

Non-profits have to increase their overhead spending in order to revitalize themselves with trained and able staff, adequate services, and better programs. 

Fourth Interview Questions

1. What business model do you support?
   
2. How to foundations work?
   
3. Which is the most reliable source of income?
   
4. What is fundamentally wrong with the non-profit sector?
   
5. Who is doing/managing non-profit work the "right way"?
   
6. About how much money does Uncommon Good require on a yearly basis to continue being operational?
   
7. What does most of the money go into?
   
8. What is the business model of a typical non-profit organization?
   
9. Is Uncommon Good partners with any other NPO?
   
10. How is brand important?
    
11. How are visual logos important?
    
12. What is the most effective way to reach and immediately convey your message to the community?
    
13. What is the importance of networking in the non-profit world?
    
14. How did the Uncommon Good logo come to be?
    
15. How is internal order kept at a non-profit organization?
    
16.  How do you keep from slowing down and losing interest in your job?
    
17. What do you think is the most important component of a non-profit organization?
    
18. What do you think can be done relatively  soon/immediately to begin alleviating the monetary burden most small non-profits have to deal with?
    
19. What has been the most difficult monetary situation Uncommon Good has been in and how was Uncommon Good able to recuperate?
    
20. What'd be the one thing you would do differently if you were able to go back and start Uncommon Good from scratch again?