Non-Profits Must Show ROI

Gotham Gives is Fred and my latest venture. I have written a few times about the organizations we have partnered with. Our tagline is, “we support programs that benefit NYC and the neediest of New Yorkers”. We have been doing this for years and have now made it a public organization. We hope to raise money for organizations that we support with the hope that our involvement will significantly impact the work that these non-profit organizations are doing.

I have been involved in non-profit organizations for decades, being the first Chairperson to three. I am proud of those efforts and incredibly grateful that each of these organizations has grown and become more prominent each year, changing the lives of many.

The one point I have hammered home on at our weekly board meeting is impact. There are countless organizations with big hearts that want to do good in the world. I know for a fact that many of them are trying to do the same thing, and some do an excellent job at impact while others barely keep their head above water.

Non-profits need to be accountable. I want to see data, I want to know the impact, I want to see a return on our investment. As we put more capital into the non-profit world, and it could be a substantial amount as the years’ pass, I want to see more organizations that not only have hearts but have a clear-cut mission showing results. We expect that from the profit companies we invest in, and if we all expected that from the non-profit companies we put capital into, the world would be a lot better off.