• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Non-profit founder critics

Published: Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Why are people so critical when young people start non-profits?

Time and time again, I hear people say, "there are enough non-profits out there.  Young people should just join what's already out there.  I don't think starting another non-profit is the best use of resources.  I mean, I started my own, but…"

Starting a non-profit is hard.  It takes time, money and resources.  Starting a company is hard.  It takes time, money and resources.

When someone is thinking of starting a company, such as a new mobile app, no one ever says, "you should just join X mobile app company, you'll be able to make more of an impact that way".  Because it's not true.  So why do we say that to would-be non-profit founders?

There are many innovative, sustainably non-profit business models now that do good, while doing well.

Why can't we just accept that like in the capital marketplace, the best non-profits will survive, and the others won't.

The non-profit founders, the founders, the crazy ones - these are the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world - but they need all the help they can get getting there.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Tune out everyone

    Being concerned with what people think about you makes you unable to contribute your best work to the world.

  • Are you a knowledge junkie?

    Knowledge junkies are people who love to learn and accrue knowldge.  They’ve read all the books, registered to all the web communities, heard of all...

  • 10 million

    My goal with my blog wasn't to reach 10 million views.  (And it hasn't.) My goal was to learn discipline:  making myself contribute to the world each...

  • Greater than 0.00%

    No matter what choices you make every single day, life is unpredictable - everything is unpredictable. So all you can do is prepare the best you can...

  • Aurukun Advance Queensland

    As part of my Advance Queensland Hot Desq tenure, I was granted the unique opportunity to visit a remote Aboriginal community, Aurukun, to encourage kids into...

  • Channel 7 - House of Wellness TV

    Channel 7’s The House of Wellness TV got in touch to find out what I’m up to. We talked robots, Aipoly and more robots.

  • I've done what I've done

    When I became Young Australian of the Year a year ago, I wanted to give as many speeches as I physically could, I wanted to contribute to the...

  • Why you need a break

    Life gets busy.  You say 'yes' to things to fill up your life and your time and pretty soon your days are filled with back-to-back commitments.  And...

  • Nexus Impact Accelerator Fellow

    I spent the last few days of February in Washington DC attending the Nexus Global Summit as a Nexus Impact Accelerator Fellow. NEXUS is a global...

  • 10 Years Young Australian of the Year

    On this day, 10 years ago, I was named the "Young Australian of the Year", by the Prime Minister of Australia, in front of Parliament House, on...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top