The Social Impact Exchange has just completed the second day of its work and one of the activities I am most interested in is the Business Plan Competition.
In this event, nonprofits, big and small, present their plans for scaling -- reaching tons more customers. At this event, the finalists get to present and a winner is chose in two categories.
One of the finalists this year is The Hill Center. It's purpose is to teach teachers how to teach reading. This group is trying to raise $11 million over the next thre years to train and certify 636 teachers and support the academic success of 10,000.
Maybe this is one of those cycle of life things but there have been and remain some pretty powerful national organizations that teach teachers how to teach reading. Formost among them and one of my clients in the organization's earliest stage of development is Reading Recovery - -a national program initiated I believe in Australia.
Now it's possible that there's market room for many. And I have to admit I haven't read their business plan but following the presentations their is a Q&A session by the three judges and you know what: not one asked the competition question.
Great business planning and a great marketing strategy revolve around truly understanding market/demand which in turn demonstrates a true understanding of competition and the subsequent "so what". That I didn't hear the judges ask the question only concerns me because this Competition is really a teaching opportunity. We want every nonprofit to do business plans and get them right so they are successful.
Remember, competition matters in terms of who wants or needs a nonprofit's offering and who's going to pay for it.
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