NON-PROFIT vs FOR-PROFIT

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Permalink Reply by Tom Khazoyan on January 18, 2009 at 2:17am

Travis,

I need to connect you with a guy I had breakfast with on Friday. He has a non-profit, but he is producing some of his films on a for-profit basis, raising funds from investors through LLCs created for the specific projects. He has worked out a way to keep it all straight and return revenue to the non-profit down the road. I plan to talk more with him about his model. We may decide to do our next film in this sort of way, rather than as a pure non-profit, donation-funded venture.

Tom

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Permalink Reply by Clyde Taber on January 19, 2009 at 7:52pm

Travis,

It is not uncommon for groups to have both. Often they want to have the for-profit help the non-profit.
In any model, you have to feed the beast(s). So with a for-profit, keeping the work flow going is the challenge. In a non-profit, consistent fund raising is the challenge.
Graham VerMooten does it both ways out of S Africa. It might be interesting to get on the phone with him and pick his brain. Tell him I sent you.
He's in this community. He's a good man.

CT

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Matz on March 30, 2009 at 1:28am

It really depends on where your $ will be coming from. If you're mostly a business (in terms of traditional capitalism) then go for profit to avoid the hassle of non-profit. If you'll be relying mostly on financial gifts, then non-profit seems the way to go.

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Permalink Reply by Durand Robinson on April 25, 2009 at 12:45pm

I'm helping run a commercial business that does roughly half its work in the commercial world and half our work for churches, charities and non-profits.

I guess I look at it as a chance to be involved in the community where I live giving the best possible service to whoever comes through the door. When I explain that we intentionally try to get involved in as many projects as possible for charities and non-profits like churches and schools, we find that people actually respect that.

We don't change who we are depending on our client. We look at the work we do for people that don't know Jesus personally or understand people that do as a chance to "one another" them to death. Let them see the difference commitment to following Jesus makes in the way we work, relate, communicate and create.

The only real difference is that when we do work for our fellow Christ-followers we get the added bonus of being part of what God's doing through them.

Make sense?

Durand Robinson
http://clearmedia.ie

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Permalink Reply by Durand Robinson on June 2, 2009 at 4:36pm

Many countries (France for example) have a "not for profit" category which is different from "non-profit". Your company has as its main objective some kind of charitable focus, but is allowed to make profit that keeps the company going but not so much as to have stockholders, profit sharing, etc. As you can see, I'm not the legal guy. But I'm sure someone out there is. I'd ask people in Germany if I were you. I'm sure someone you know will have guidance there.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas W. Silkwood on June 25, 2009 at 9:22pm

Travis,

Non-profit and profit have some big pluses and minuses. I'm a missionary in Thailand so the majority of my funding comes from churches and individuals in the USA. I've been at this for 30 years and in all honesty the fund raising is getting tougher. A number of traditional missionaries are moving into Business as Missions (BAM). Traditionally called "tentmaking". Not a bad idea supporting your ministry with your own work but it also has some issues depending on where you are located (as far as countries and that countries laws). If you are overseas it can be almost impossible to break into the money. Often times the government and officials have a uncanny way of getting into you wallet. If you know what you are doing it can happen but overseas the odds are extremely low depending on where you are at and if you really know the ropes in that country or not.

Living in Thailand I'm very limited on what I can do so I have chosen "c" as the best method. Due to my visa I can't be a business so I sort of own a business (all its gear and office space) but I personally don't received any funds from it. It all get plowed into our ministry and pays the staff's salaries. I have staff that run the company and I can keep a hand in it by owning all the essential gear. I should add here that I have been moving from total control of the ministry (and company) to lower and lower responsibility as my team becomes more capable.

In our new world I have noticed more interest in supporting short term projects and not long term commitments. That makes traditional ministry tough in my case. My ministry is making films for evangelistic outreach. My suggestion is do your homework on where you are locally and see what options you have from those conditions. Remember also that the Lord is the provider for our work as long as it's HIS work. Proof of that is our studio in Chiangmai, Thailand. With my tiny budget no body can believe our facilities. Take a look if you get a chance.

Don't know if this addresses your question at all but hopefully it will be of help to someone.

Tom

http://web.mac.com/freedomfilmprod

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Permalink Reply by Thomas W. Silkwood on June 25, 2009 at 9:27pm

You may have an issue with our web site. The complete address is below:

http://web.mac.com/freedomfilmsprod/Freedom_Films_Productions/Home_...

Blessings,

Tom Silkwood

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Permalink Reply by Joey O'Connor on June 26, 2009 at 5:02pm

If I had to choose today, I would definitely go for-profit...the new IRS regs and compliance issues border on harrassment. The reporting requirements are now very lengthy...for example, my CPA is seriously considering getting out of non-profit work for this very reason.

For-profit is much simpler than the new non-profit quagmire.

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Permalink Reply by Graham Vermooten on February 16, 2010 at 9:58am

Yes, I have both, Media Village training run as non-profit. We want to train many who can not afford the high price of education - I have to continually raise money for this, I personally live on "support"
Media Village Productions does media around the world and we were pushed into being a company so that we could retain good staff and pay salaries. My biggest competition comes from the 20 companies in our city started by our past students. - I have to continually make sure we have enough work to pay the salaries.
What is better? it depends what you are trying to accomplish.

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