Robert J. Oravitz, MBA

The term Entrepreneur evokes images of Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Ray Kroc, Elon Musk, Milton Hershey and others. It implies a never sleeping lifestyle, driven by boundless passion, and the determination to succeed.

Q:             But can the the term stick to leaders in the non-profit sector?

A:             A resounding yes, and it should!

Thumbing through a thesaurus will yield some synonyms that define an entrepreneur including: leader, organizer, backer/supporter, executive, manager, administrator, creator, hero/heroine, opportunist, and even consider intrapreneur.

Each synonym is simultaneously a definer of an organizational leader and manager. The synonym intrapreneur; however, implies someone who creatively works outside of the box while positioned inside the box. This is the sweet spot for a non-profit executive. As an Executive Director, COO or CEO, you probably have a nationally branded system of best practices and organizational structure in place. How you creatively manage within that structure can be the difference between finding competitive advantage, new sources of funding, or meeting the needs of a specific constituent population.

Becoming a Non-profit Entrepreneur / Intrapreneur:

• Accept the mantle of Intrapreneur, and consider that as part of your working title.
• Based on your operational intuition and “active observation”, define what this means for those around you. How will you lead the team within this outside the box mentality?
• Engage your board and trustees. and seek their creative guidance. Also challenge them not to “do what we’ve always done.”
• Model the best behaviors of successful for-profit and non-profit leaders that are considered visionary. Be willing to pivot and adopt new behaviors, new thought processes, and act quickly after reviewing the best options based on resources available and projected.
• Be Thomas Edison working within your cause. If Plan A doesn’t yield the needed result, then act on Plan B. You’ll know when the light is on, as programs function smoothly, cash flow is positive more regularly or non-operating funds flow consistently from new sources.

Most importantly, remember that an entrepreneur is not an executive that functions  only in a for profit environment. They are the executive that manages creatively in any organization and embraces  leading change, outside of the box.