Funding for Nonprofits

My first month with Ascend has been an eye-opener for me. Not only have I learned a ton about what it takes to run a non-profit, I have also corresponded with the majority of our field staff and read many fascinating blogs about the current state of other humanitarian efforts.

One of the biggest realizations I have made about running a non-profit is that despite the label, we are still very dependent on generating revenue. It is evident that Ascend Alliance is engaged in what is called “social entrepreneurship”. What this means is that we recognize a social problem and use entrepreneurship to make social change. In order to do this, we are constantly coming up with new ways to make money besides accepting donations. What we are doing is providing real value to people or organizations/people in exchange for their money (i.e. expeditions, sponsorships). Finding new ways to make money will be the lifeblood of this organization and rethinking the traditional approach to funding a non-profit is what makes and will continue to make Ascend Alliance a world-class organization.

Besides observing and absorbing, I have been engaged in putting together in-country staff reports (and photos) for all of the foreign countries in which Ascend operates. In order to do this, I have been in direct contact with almost every member of our foreign staff using either email or Skype. It has truly amazed me the caliber of people that we employ in our operations. These are well-educated people with long lists of applicable experience relevant towards furthering our mission. Along with this, they are very personable, cooperative and serious about their work. It has been a pleasure to work with them.

Part of our assignment for HQ interns is to find and comment on humanitarian blogs that write about issues that are applicable to our line of work. This has led me to the discovery of many interesting articles over the past month and increased my awareness of what type of humanitarian work is being done today and what are the principles behind this type of work. I feel like our networking efforts will start to pay off soon enough as we are beginning to build relationships with other serious humanitarians that are out there. I look forward to another exciting month with Ascend!

Written by Tim Marti
ASCEND Alliance Intern