In April 2017, Roots of Success Founder, Raquel Pinderhughes, participated in a panel and networking event focused on “Scaling Earned Revenue in Nonprofit Organizations”, sponsored by the Palo Alto Impact Center (now One World Training & Investments) and the Harvard Business School Community Partners. Other panelists included founders of three Bay Area nonprofits: Doniece Sandoval, LavaMae; Mark Wexler, Not For Sale & Just Business; and Perla Ni, Great Nonprofits.
The goal of the panel was to support professionals working with social impact organizations that improve the lives of individuals in the Bay Area and globally. The audience included Harvard Business School alumni, Palo Alto Impact Center professionals, and community members involved with scaling the impact of nonprofits.
Using her experience with Roots of Success, Raquel’s presentation focused on how nonprofits can create and scale earned income revenue streams. She talked about the benefits of earned income vs. foundation support models; the value of commercializing a service versus giving it away; and what capabilities a nonprofit needs to develop and scale an earned income revenue model. She also focused on how to engage and work with pro-bono professionals.
As HBS Community Partners described the event, “Today’s climate for non-profits makes the need to develop earned revenue sources more important than ever. Yet lean non-profit organizations often face challenges identifying and capitalizing upon mission-aligned earned income sources. This panel and networking event will provide practical guidance for non-profit leaders and board members interested in exploring and scaling earned income revenue streams. The program will provide individuals and teams of professionals exposure to strategies, best practices, as well as experts in the field. Non-profit leaders will share their successes and challenges in growing earned revenue.”
Dr. Pinderhughes had a fantastic time presenting on what makes the Roots of Success business model so unique, and why our commitment to our students, teachers, and programs is so important. Many thanks to the organizers and attendees for their participation and support. Feel free to reach out to us at info@rootsofsuccess.org to continue the conversation.