For-profit ventures help nonprofits shore up the funding they need to maintain and expand their programs

By Abny Santicola

“Those people will poke. They will probe. They will challenge assumptions. They will point out things that the group hasn’t taken into consideration,” he says.

The biggest success factor is a willingness to come into the process with an open mind and a long-term approach. When done properly, Block says, the process — from brainstorming to planning to launch — can take about nine months. And most ventures take about three to five years after launch to break even. If an organization is in survival mode and trying to figure out how to make payroll in six months, this is not the way to go.