My First Great Epiphany of the Year

Thursday was a great day in many respects professionally, but the key moment of the day was watching the Terre Haute City Council voted unanimously in favor of a comprehensive smoke-free workplaces law (even though it won't take effect until July 1, 2012). Although there are some reservations about the context in which this ordinance came about and the fact that it won't take immediate effect, it is still a celebration on many levels. And to consider that the process to get to this vote happened in just a matter of a few months is nothing short of a miracle!

After sitting through Thursday's meeting and contemplating the work that went into everything, an idea came to me: What if I were to create a non-profit business that helps other non-profits coordinate advocacy and issue campaigns? Sounds like something I would be great at, right?

So many non-profits have great issue campaigns or projects they want to work on, but no money to hire people to help them. In many of these cases, they apply for grants to hire temporary workers for anywhere from 3 months to a year until their projects are complete. Most of the time, they are able to accomplish what they want, but usually it's done on a sliding learning curve. They have to train people on their organization, their mission, etc., and precious time they could be working on their campaign or project is wasted.

Organizations will continue to do this process every time needs like these pop up instead of hiring full-time workers because their funding can't sustain additional employees. While many smaller organizations can't help but operate in this way due to financial restraints, operating in such a manner is not efficient and in fact, is somewhat wasteful of the grants they receive. As someone who has worked in the non-profit field for more than 10 years and has been involved with multiple different organizations over that time period, I have seen first-hand how projects like these have been conducted, some successful and others not.

What I would like to do is set up a business, a consulting firm of sorts, that would come in and offer campaign coordination training, help to set up and run/monitor their campaigns, and help organizations learn how to recruit, train, and maximize their volunteer resources. Although I know there are some organizations our there now that offer programs to non-profits in these areas, my business would stand out simply for the fact that I would be offering these services for FREE. I would pay for my salary and operating expenses through government and private grants.

While I know there may be some drawbacks to this new venture, I think it is something worth investigating and pursuing. 

PROS

• Doing something I love.
• Helping a lot of organizations that otherwise would not be able to implement their projects/campaigns.
• Have more control over the hours I work and the travel I do.
• Be my own boss.
• I could do the work of multiple temporary workers with my experience and ability to conduct more than one campaign at a time; therefore I would be helping to save grant money that could be provided to another group that may be in more need of it.
• Owning my own business means I would have more free time to spend with family and friends and working on personal edification.

CONS

• Owning your own business makes it tough to get health insurance.
• There is always a risk that I may not be able to sustain my funding and will need to seek additional funding.
• Depending on where my clients are located, I may have to do more travel than I want to do.

Any thoughts?