Like the development of any entity, cause-driven grassroots nonprofits evolve as they age. Generally speaking, there are typical stages they go through, starting from a few determined people deciding to do something worthwhile, to becoming a well-recognized cause-related brand.

In this article, I will review the basic stages that most grassroots nonprofits go through. This article will not consider anomalies like impact-focused orgs driven by the celebrities or the wealthy, but will focus on the typical creation of a local cause-focused group.

The Founding

Nonprofits driven by the need to change society for the better often start via a conversation. People decide they want to try to change something, to right an injustice, to protect the unprotected, to provide services where none are offered. Efforts start, momentum builds, some people who learn of the cause are convinced to join. A movement, big or small, is born.

The people who start these initiatives are often known as founding members or directors. They all volunteer their time to work together. They may be friends, relatives, fellow club members, drawn together by some event, but however they are convened they agree that something must be done to alleviate the current situation, and they agree to work together to make an impact. Often a nonprofit society is started, sometimes a club or committee of a larger group; whatever the case, they develop an organizational structure and agree upon a methodology for decision-making and they define the efforts that help them move forward on their focus issue(s).

Sometimes these groups maintain this momentum without much change. However, if they start increasing their impact, if fundraising, reporting and/or regulatory requirements place additional administrative requirements on the group, usually they evolve into the next stage.

The first personnel

The first time that a non-profit pays people for their work is a very significant step. The decision to pay for someone’s hours rather than on providing services is a difficult one, but as many of us understand from the nonprofits we know of, it is an absolute necessity if the group’s impact is to grow. Usually this person or people taken take on the more mundane tasks, but sometimes also get involved in direct mission-related work. Often they will hire a bookkeeper or administrator. Sometimes one of the founders is paid.

When people are paid it creates a new level of momentum for the organization, and brings up a number of issues. The person’s work needs to be well defined, because some founders or Board members will inevitably ask them to do something outside of the range of their paid duties. Paid personnel, whether employees or contractors, require a structure by which they are supervised, monitored, evaluated, payment reviewed, etc. Unfortunately, very often these things are overlooked. Paying personnel also means that a regular income stream is required to keep them in these positions that support the organization; this leads to greater concern about generating revenue from donations, programs, grants, social enterprises, and/or other sources.

All of this means that this small, impact-focused group will evolve from a group of volunteer do-gooders to a structured, business-like entity. They will have an annual budget, develop an annual report, a communications strategy (if not an actual communications plan), a fundraising strategy, standardized program/initiative offerings; all the elements of a typical nonprofit society. These elements may be simple or basic, but they will be required in order for the group to be taken seriously and in order to fulfill requirements for their increasingly larger group of stakeholders such as members, program partners and recipients, donors, sponsors, funders and government agencies.

This article is a work in progress: more to come! – Andy.