Competition: The Wrong Word.

I'm often asked about which organizations will be our greatest competitors. The base assumption - one I don't assume to be true - is that there is a finite amount of money to be given to nonprofit organizations. This assumption sets up a spirit of competition between organizations, like animals in the wild seeking the same prey. Through the perpetuation of this mindset, nonprofits miss the opportunity to support new entities doing similar, but slightly different, work.

I was once told that the finite resource is great ideas, not money. For this reason, I generally respond to the competition question in the following manner: There are many organizations that successfully use a similar model, but we are taking the next step by engaging disconnected students instead of working with those that are already highly motivated. Two such programs - Heads Up (local) and Breakthrough Collaborative (national) - have developed strong reputations. Given that they use highly motivated high school and college students as teachers, Reach brings a new dimension to the world of cross-age tutoring. Each organization can succeed without negatively impacting the others.

Intelligent funders often hope to develop strong portfolios. It is rarely desirable to fund a single strong organization in a program area. Cross-age tutoring can create positive outcomes for both highly motivated youth and those that have previously experienced failure. I don't consider Heads Up and Breakthrough Collaborative competitors. Rather, these organizations serve as support for Reach's model - they are similar programs that have proven effective for all participants. At Reach, we are simply tweeking a known model to the benefit of a different student population.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark