• 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

  • How the community keeps you going

    When I first started Robogals, the first thing I did was tell people about my vision and ask that they sign on to join. From that, I got a team of 3...

  • Tune out everyone

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

  • Al Jazeera Women Make Science Documentary

    From September to December 2019, Al Jazeera English followed me around and filmed an update on all my projects: Robogals, Aipoly, Teleport, my...

  • 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...

  • 2Mar Robotics Blog

    Hello! It's been ages since I blogged here. More recently, I've been blogging at the 2Mar Robotics Blog.

  • Another context

    If you're over your university studies. If you're not looking forward to taking a week out of your life and attending a conference. If you don't...

  • No one puts Baby in the corner

    I was at West End watching “Dirty Dancing” the other night. In the foyer, there were t-shirts embossed with, “I carried a watermelon”, and “No one...

  • 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...

  • Dianne's Garage

    This is how I spend the majority of my time:  Hanging out with my mentor Dianne in her awesome workshop.

  • No overnight success: Geoffrey Rush

    When I was touring schools with Geoffrey Rush and we were answering questions in front of hundreds of kids, lots of them said, "I really what to be...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top