It's not only about the idea, but also the model

Social innovations and enterprises can't bring about social impact as expected without a practical and sustainable model. Even though the idea is good enough, if we don't have the proper model to carry out them effectively,the idea would only be an idea. Here, I would like to define the meaning of the "model" as the system that the organization relies on to collect and use resources in an effort to achieve social missions.

This week I have read some articles about models of non-profit organizations.Unlike private sectors, non-profit areas don't have quantifiable output because the output are always social values.No one can make a specific cost-benefit analysis of the project that invests 20 million dollars to protect rainforests in Indonesia. As a result, models of non-profit organizations are not as clear as business models, which makes it more difficult for these organizations to gain trust from potential supporters. Traditional models are mainly concentrated on fundraising, but interestingly, there are also two innovative models emerging with a bright new mindset, which may break some limitations of traditional models.

First, there are some traditional models that are widely applied in non-profit organizations.For example, Susan G.Women Foundation resonates with people by the concerns about women breast cancer which enables it to attract individual donators and volunteers.National Wild Turkey Federation builds a strong membership with contributors to ensure consistent financial support.By distributing the food left in the restaurants to hungry people in the neighborhood, The Great Boston Food Bank collaborates with local retailers and manufacturers and acts like a resource recycler in the community.More often than not, these models are not stable enough to provide the organization with money and resources.To make the matters worse, under the strict supervision of influential donators,these organizations have limited freedom to use resources in hand so they just can't achieve the best results.

Fortunately, there is a new model that brings us hope, it's called Branding.I would rather say that this is a new conceptual framework that takes our attention away from direct fundraising. In the past, branding is only an assistant tool used in non-profit organizations to increase public awareness, but now it has been leveraged to a strategic level and is treated as the main source of power to trigger social impact.Instead of struggling for direct ways of getting fund from the public,the main idea of branding is about managing psychological associations with potential investors, partners and beneficiaries.By acquiring strong and compelling social identity, the organization will be more influential to society, and this would attract investors who want to take advantage of its powerful influence, for instance, treating NPOs like an advertising channel. It also would be easier for the organization to obtain more authority and freedom in the process of realizing its missions.

In addition to this, some creative NPOs achieve their goals by building partnership with private sectors. As is illustrated in the article of "First 2 Grameen Uniqlo Stores open in Bangladesh",the organization manages to forge collaboration with Uniqlo to create a win-win situation.On the one hand, Grameen developed a new market for Uniqlo to make profit; on the other hand, Grammen itself can consistently get resources from Uniqlo to address local problems and fulfill its missions.

Undoubtedly, these two models have some certain advantages.However, I'm kind of worried about the negative influences of branding in non-profit organizations: isn't the idea of branding too commercial to non-profit sectors? Will it water down the social values that NPOs are pursuing? And in the second model, NPOs are acting like some interfaces that connect social needs with private resources and satisfy both sides at the same time.From my perspective,to build this kind of relationship, the challenge would be how to make the project convincing enough to attract private investors and how to make clear of the budget as well as the division of financial responsibilities, so as to ensure the independence and core value of NPOs.



Sources:
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/ten_nonprofit_funding_models
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_role_of_brand_in_the_nonprofit_sector
https://www.google.com/search?q=fundraising&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=fW44Usj-H-_84AOan4HYAg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1304&bih=707&dpr=1#imgdii=_