Even with a robust nonprofit system in Philadelphia, there are still a few voids that new nonprofits can plug into — ones that serve other nonprofits.

Here are three such orgs Philly needs. Please steal these ideas:

 1. Philly Board Member Network

• Need Statement: According to the National Center of Charitable Statistics, there are 7,973 registered charitable organizations in Philadelphia County. The average nonprofit board size is 16, meaning that there can easily be 127,568 Individual board members controlling $31,321,616,096 in annual revenue and $66,825,074,537 in assets. But let’s be conservative and say that some people on multiple boards, we can comfortably say that there are 50,000 to 75,000 board members overseeing the Philadelphia nonprofit Sector. Who are they? And how often do they talk with each other?
• Mission Statement: Connecting and convening the 50,000+ nonprofit board members in Philadelphia to foster collaborations and efficiencies and increase outcomes of the nonprofit sector.
• Funders: Nonprofit membership fees, foundations, law firms and other professional vendors of nonprofits

2. The Nonprofit Employee Appreciation Society and Foundation

• Need Statement: Most nonprofits can’t afford nice employees appreciation events and gifts. This can lead to low morale, burnout and staff turnover which can cost the nonprofit resources and lower outcomes.
• Mission Statement: Connect event management and corporate sponsors to fund and create nonprofit employee appreciation grants. Nonprofits can apply for party grants to give their staff a nice night out.
• Funders: The entertainment and event management sector, as well as corporate sponsors.

3. Philly Open Client Relationship Management Network

• Need Statement: Scores of individuals and their families in Philadelphia use many different nonprofit services throughout their life. Each time they access a nonprofit’s services, they must repeat the intake process. There needs to be a hosted open CRM (i.e. CiviCRM) where nonprofits can access and manage clients’ needs and information. This will save both clients and nonprofits intake time as well as allow nonprofits to monitor clients’ needs and access to services. It will also reduce nonprofits’ outreach costs as they can access information to contact individuals that need services but may not know how to access them.
• Mission Statement: Philly OpenCRM will connect the unconnected with technology and provide free and intuitive CRM systems to nonprofits to better maximize their outcomes.
• Funders: Local tech sector.

As you can see, these three proposed orgs are not traditional client-facing nonprofits. These fall into a class that I call the nonprofit wholesale sector. Their missions are to support the nonprofit sector as a whole and create a rising tide that will lift all boats. In this one model, one of these could help hundreds of nonprofits increase their outcomes by a small margin which can end up creating an untold number of additional outcomes.

If you want to start one of these, please do — and if you want to fund one, call me.