• 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

  • Nail painting robot

    A robot friend suggested we go and get our nails painted by a robot!  So we went and did that!  The first time I saw a nail painting robot was at CES...

  • Australian of the Year Award winners video

    The Australian Department of Home Affairs decided to celebrate the Australian of the Year awards with this short animated video of past award...

  • Austrade San Francisco Landing Pad

    In late 2018, Aubot participated in the Australian Trade and Investment Commission’s (Austrade’s), Landing Pad program, which helps successful...

  • Sole founder or co-founders?

    I was starting up my new start-up and I was finding it hard to get my desired co-founder to commit.  So I thought back over my experiences of the...

  • Orlando

    I went to Orlando and gave three speeches in 4 days! I spoke to Baxter Healthcare virtually about failure - my failures, failing fast, failing...

  • Brain-controlled Teleport

    I was invited to demonstrate my robots on a QANTAS flight from Sydney to San Francisco, while we flew over the Pacific Ocean.  I said yes!  My fellow...

  • Turn off the noise

    The world is so noisy!  Every day there's the breaking news through your multiple most trusted news sources; there's the buzz of your twitter and...

  • In the news: Entrepreneurship in Australian universities

    My business partner Mark Parncutt was quoted in this article in StartUp Smart about the state of entrepreneurship in Australian universities.  Happy...

  • Happiness

    What I say is important in my life = how I actually live my life

  • Speaker in the USA!

    I received my USA visa to do speeches in the USA several months ago.  I’m very excited about spreading my messages and telling my stories all over...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top