Sell products and services to cover your costs

Don't be dependent on donations and grants to survive, but instead sell products and services to cover your costs.

Making your income from selling products and services is the eighth of the ten principles of social business.

Selling products or services that are aligned to your social objectives gives more focus to these objectives, for example the organisation called Open Africa, where tourists pay for guided tours by locals who might otherwise have no source of income.

Other similar examples include Streetwire and Khayelitsha Cookies.

A recent comment on this blog questioned whether the sales of products and services may be just as time consuming as focusing on donations and grants. That may be correct, but by making sales rather than focusing on charity, you minimise the dependency on those donating and give your organisation more control over your income stream.

There's no doubt that these are challenging economic times, but it is going to be a lot more challenging for those reliant on charity to survive, because charity is normally based on otherwise excess funds (of the organisation donating) and will be the first thing to be cut. Whereas, people still need products and services.

If you are stuck for ideas on what to sell, start with the reason why your organisation exists, for example to support those living in remote but tourist friendly locations in South Africa, and then work out what you can sell that supports this objective, e.g. tourist routes like Open Africa does.


Mike.