13th
I Don’t Want to be a Punk, but Please Don’t Start Another Non-Profit :: Five Reasons to Reconsider
About 8-10 times a year I get random calls from sincere 20-somethings asking me for advice about the non-profit organization they want to start. Usually these new, innovative ideas are cause-driven organizations that aim to help victims of human trafficking or women and children caught up in the commercial sex industry.
I don’t want to be a dream-killer, but in nearly every one of these scenarios my advice sounds something like this, “Please do not start another non-profit.”
Seriously.
Here’s why:
1) Most of the women and children who are victims of human trafficking or caught up in the commercial sex industry have already experienced so much trauma, loss and disappointment in their lives that your new, innovative idea for a non-profit will likely end up being another tragic disappoint they can not afford. On behalf of my friends and my co-workers who daily engage these women, do not do this to them, they’ve already suffered enough. Do not set people up to be let down again, they deserve better.
2) Unless you’re willing to forego your dreams of going back to school for a graduate degree, unless you’re willing to sacrifice the possibility of getting married, and unless your willing to consider remaining childless, do not over-commit yourself to the very real strains and demands of people who will become your family and dictate decisions that will limit what you perceive to be the entitled options and freedoms you think your future may entail. If you are serious about giving yourself to those who have lost everything then their lack of freedom will limit your notions of what freedoms you think you may have.
3) If you think you’re about to start or launch something that’s fresh or innovative or has never been done please re-consider it. There actually might be a legitimate reason why it’s never been done and your failure to find traction and relevance will only take away from those who are already doing the hard, undramatic work of fighting for freedom for those enslaved in the sex trade.
4) Apart from authentic and honest friendships with women victimized in the commercial sex industry, your ideas may very likely be misguided or romanticized. Without the presence and participation of actual victims, your visions and best ideas will most likely not have relevance to the needs of those you intend to help. Please do not perpetuate the notion that you can imagine something outside relationship that could actually be a successful idea. Real partnerships are built on trust, and in real partnerships both sides have lots to offer. Empowerment can be dehumanizing, the resources for freedom already exist within the imaginations of those you want to help, and the greatest gift you can offer them is supporting their vision, not imposing yours.
5) If you really think that you want to start a new project, program or non-profit, then prove it by joining an existing organization who is already doing a version of what you hope to do. Learn from them. Learn to nurture and cultivate real friendships with the kinds of folks you hope to help. See what it costs to get involved in the areas of need you hope to combat. Find mentoring so that you don’t become competition to good groups who currently are doing the work you desire to participate in. And take from these groups, expecting them to serve you, really roll your sleeves up and volunteer for the most mundane tasks—that’s where you’ll learn the guts of what this takes. If you really think you’re in this for the long haul then go to “college” (usually a 4-5 year certification commitment) and prove to yourself that you’re willing to obtain the tools you’ll need to be effective. You’ll learn the secret, that all great groups already engaged in this kind of work had their imaginations incubated by others already engaged in the fight for freedom.
And, even after these 5 bits of advice, reconsider. Really, I don’t want to be a punk, but the last thing victims of the commercial sex industry need is another painful disappointment. Don’t hurt them more than they’ve already been hurt.
Please.
