i've shared a bit about the various ways that non-profits can generate revenue and fundraise
in other videos but today i want to show you a real life non-profit fundraising model in
action welcome or welcome back to my channel i'm amber melanie smith i'm a non-profit founder and
executive director who makes these videos here on youtube to help folks who are aspiring to
start a non-profit or some other social impact project get going i hope that you enjoyed this
video please don't forget to like the video and subscribe to my channel for more content like this
and if you're looking for more help and guidance on how to start a non-profit
check out my website founder to fulltime.com so i have just arrived at one of my favorite
spots it is a non-profit restaurant called a place at the table and one of the super
cool things about this organization is that it generates a good portion of its annual revenue
from an earned income strategy known as a pay what you can model we're gonna chat with my
friend maggie kane who is the founder and executive director of A Place at the Table
to learn a little bit more about how this works and get some insights for any of you who might
be thinking about starting a non-profit using an earned income pay what you can strategy let's go
all right so maggie i want to start out by hearing more about you tell us all about the
place of the table what is this place and are there other places like this around the world
yes it's so good to be here i love this um i truly the coolest place
but we're a little different so when you walk through the doors you like i said you see a
regular restaurant you see fun photos on the wall you see you smell good food but then you get to
the register, and all of our prices are suggested prices. So people can choose to pay that price,
they can pay more and pay it forward, they can pay less because someone said it's harder than others
and all you can do is just pay a couple dollars or you can pay by volunteering with us there are over
30 pay what you can cafes across the country in several different towns and different states um
and all uk and cafes are different but you share this pay what you can model of congestive pricing
so it's a way of generating revenue in your mission but it's acceptable to everyone yes my
hope is that a lot of folks who start businesses moving forward or even folks who have businesses
now can add a pay what you can model to it i think it's critical i think it's important it makes it
a place where everyone is welcome where everyone is able to come and be a part of it and build
that community that we all need in life especially now and you're right there are other non-profits
right because it really allows people of all means to participate in the community building
like you said and other nonprofits um talk to us a little bit more about
how that brings in revenue i know you know when you were first starting out
there might have been some skepticism from people who just didn't understand
it works and it is honestly we never thought it would work we are against the odds but it does
work and it's because the community supports it every day it is easy to be a part of because you
get to walk in these doors and if you are someone who has means you are able to hey just like you
would go to any restaurant it's an easy way for one of you to feel good about yourself two for you
to support the community because you get to buy the cheddar cheese grits you're gonna buy anyway
and then pay it forward for someone else um so our budget is um uh 60 of our annual budget
comes from cafe revenue so that is anyone who is paying for their meal that has been
coming through the doors and buying their cinnamon roll or buying their salad right
and then 40 of it comes from fundraising so we're just we're very fortunate to have
a revenue stream coming through the doors that is not just fundraising and i think
that's interesting and something that's really important to consider if you are considering an
earned income strategy with a pay what you can model it doesn't necessarily mean that all of
your non-profit revenue is going to come from that pay which you can model a good portion of
it might but as maggie said she still has to do some fundraising and to talk a little bit more
about that how do you cultivate those research donors to bring in that other 40 percent sure
and the people is awesome too especially in this cafe setting which i think it could be in a lot
of different settings like i said but it's so neat because we get someone to come through the doors
to come because our food is good and they buy a cinnamon roll and then exactly but then they keep
coming back because they like that cinnamon roll and then we're able to build that relationship
with them we're able to start to get to know them we're able to fundraise or to friend raise first
that fundraise that you've talked about in in other videos right we're able to really cultivate
these relationships with people using this model so they may have just bought their
cinnamon roll but they're they're eventually gonna become one of our donors they're gonna
buy into what we are doing and want to be a part of it on a larger scale what you're saying
your food is the way to go heck yes i mean it is to you right the pop tarts and the lattes
but it's true food food is our tool towards bringing people together
and so here in this pay what you can model everyone gets to be a part of it um folks to
pay for their meal folks who don't pay for their meal people who volunteer here people who pay
it forward or people who just donate from across the country because they believe what we're doing
okay so i've seen it with my own eyes i know that this works i've seen your success and
i've heard of the success of other non-profit restaurants like yours but everyone who runs a
non-profit note is not all roses and parties so i want to hear a little bit about the hard stuff
what are some hard lessons learned especially about fundraising in this way or this revenue
far outweigh every single hardship we've been through
so i will tell you that 120 um i think the number one pro aside from opening a restaurant
all those hard chips and aside from you know starting a non-profit and all those hardships
right so aside from those two things of just two very difficult businesses that fail every
day doing that right aside from that i think it is getting people to believe in what we're
doing and to understand so for years we've built this for years for four years built this concept
brought people to the table friend raised first fund raised right really told the story
um but for years and still to this day we've been open three and a half years people think we are a
soup kitchen so they do not come they they there's a misconception that this is a place for just for
folks who are poor or this is a place that oh i can't eat there because they're not going
so there's this misconception about what we really do here and what the pay what you can system means
because it's confusing and it's not done a lot so um i think that's that's been the hardest
thing that we have done is proving to people that we are legitimate we're a restaurant for
literally everyone um and our food is solid like it's not it's not kitchen so right so like you
want to come and eat here and that you get to be a part of it by eating here too so um we still face
that every day i think it's something we're gonna face forever but what the positive is is once you
get people through the door you've hooked them they've seen it they've witnessed it they see it
with their eyes so it's really just that that's the hard part but once they're in they're in
and then they get to go be your ambassadors in the community talking about what you're doing
and we've talked about this in past videos too is this idea of inviting people in and
showing what you're all about giving them an opportunity to participate and be a part of it
because you're right you know sometimes you have to see it to believe it and i would say that it's
really really helpful and just if anyone out there is thinking about starting a non-profit
and potentially potentially using this earned income strategy to pay what you have
what advice do you have for them lean on people that have
you're not supposed to do it alone but you're surely not supposed to
do a concept like this alone right so go to folks that have done this revenue model before
this model is so tricky i when i first started this i needed
uh multiple people to look at the financials and work through that who have done that before who
have done tricky accounting right and then then you know my ours is a our business is a
restaurant so found that that you understood the restaurants like first and foremost that's the
only thing they're experts at not the only but you know what i mean that's what they are experts in
pulled them in and so all of us came together and and we're better together i think that's
really helpful and you're right i have mentioned just finding people to compliment your skill
sets in past videos and if i'm being completely honest maggie i've learned a little bit about you
oh that's nice wow i mean you do it too every single day but it's what it's what it makes
it makes the journey more fun when you're doing it with other people not alone and two
you're just able to accomplish a lot more you're able to grow your business more you're able to
affect more people and have more of an impact when you have everyone at the table working
on it together literally well thank you so much for your time maggie i'm so excited
thank you so much for participating in this video sharing your insights with my audience
and just appreciate you well we appreciate you these are awesome so helpful thank you
so now i want to hear from you what do you think of the pay which you can
revenue model do you think it might be something that you'd consider for your non-profit whether
you are starting a non-profit or serving on the board of directors or supporting a non-profit
in some way share in the comments below as i mentioned before don't hesitate to check out
my website founder to fulltime.com if you're looking for a little bit of extra materials
or training on how to start a non-profit and if you've seen my videos before you know what i'm
about to say but don't forget to check out my facebook group change the world or bust
where myself and almost 2 000 other change makers from around the globe are gathering to talk about
our work and how to encourage each other along the way i hope that you liked this video don't
forget to subscribe for more content like this and i'll see you next time
you