October 19, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The advantages of small, start-up organizations in competing with larger, more established ones—and what that might mean to the nonprofit world—is on the mind of Ken Goldstein at the Nonprofit Consultants Blog.
Mr. Goldstein, a consultant to charities, takes up a discussion at the True Talk Blog about the concept of “asymmetry.” True Talk blogger “Tom” explains it like this:
“Asymmetrical competitors use size (small), speed (fast), and thinking (innovative) to more than compensate for their relative lack of resources. This brand of competition is enabled by today’s technology, which dramatically reduces the barriers to entry.”
Calling the concept “ exciting and inspiring,” Mr. Goldstein notes that the nonprofit world is in fact not currently a friendly environment for small start-up groups.
“Right now, he writes, “ it’s seems that we’re all witnessing contraction and mergers. This is at least partly the result of funders getting more “strategic” with their dollars (ie: fewer, larger grants to established organizations, rather than many smaller grants to a variety of organizations).”
But joining forces, he writes, may “destroy the competitive edge” some charities have in achieving their goals.
What do you think are the advantages of a charity accomplishing its mission by going it alone as a small group rather than merging with a larger one? Share your thoughts by clicking the “comments” link below.
