Can you offer new ideas about how the company I established can accomplish its mission statement sooner?

Question

My company's mission statement:

To educate humanity by making language acquisition more available and affordable for everyone in the world.

It is the concrete goal of my company to make a 100% free university for those who have no financial means or hope of entering a school or tertiary education institution because of poverty or circumstances beyond their control.

I currently have a very small company in Japan which is teaching English as a second language. I would like to realise my goal by creating this charitable school through my business profits. For that to happen must I first increase the profits of my company to pay for it, or are there ways I can start now? If there are ways I can start now, what are they?

I REALLY need and look forward to your assistance in helping me reach this possibly lofty goal.

Sincerely,
Damian

Answer 1

Hi Damian,

Well, the first place to start would be to insure your house is in order. Is the new business incorporated as a non-profit or charitable company? If it is, I would start fundraising asap. If not, get that done first to avoid legal hassles further down the road and allow you to get grant receiving status by your government. Also, if you're planning on using your company's profits to fund this project, having a charitable number will allow you to write off the donation from one to the other for tax reasons (talk to an accountant to make sure it's legal in your country to do that first though!).

I run a similar enterprise in Canada that focuses on global highschool education. We have a two tiered fundraising program. The first tier is run by volunteer university students who are responsible for holding smaller fundraisers throughout the year. They also work within the community to distribute information about what we do and to help local community endeavours (for example: we're establishing a drop in centre next year to help local highschool students with homework, provide internet services etc.). The second tier is our Board of Directors. We hold 2-3 major fundraisers each year. Our big one this year is a few of us climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania during an aid mission to Africa to raise funds for new office space.

This model seems to work well for a small sized company (there are only 3 of us!) and we project annual revenues of over 1.2 million CDN for the next 5 years using it. I would suggest mining for personnel in your community, start with a local volunteer service, most larger centrals have one. After that, look at what events suit your group. I'll list a few sources to great fundrasing ideas that have worked for us in the past.

Don't get me wrong, all of this is a LOT of work, I work 7 days a week, sometimes over 16 hrs a day to get everything done (plus I'm still in university!). Don't let the size of the project daunt you though, it's a very worthwhile endeavour. Check out our website at www.shipsofhope.com and if you have any questions or you want some help with your project feel free to email me

Good luck with your company and I hope to hear more about it in the future!

Brian

Answer 2

This a lofty, magnanimous goal, requiring a tremendous amount of money and possibly more sponsors than just your company. I would suggest you starting the saving of business profits you plan on spending for at least one year, and see how much you assemble. I am thinking you will need at least 5 million USD before embarking on such a journey, and a steady cash flow.

I wish you luck and prosperity.

Answer 3

I admire your mission. Good luck.

You didn't mention the type of your business. If it entails retail products, I may be able to offer two suggestions.

These may be something you are doing or have already done.

It's very common in America for companies to include in their advertising the fact that a portion of the profits, (or all, in your case), are used to benefit a mission such as yours.

Secondly, you may consider appealing to your suppliers for assistance in pricing. If you are purchasing competitive products, it may behoove you to appeal to your largest one or two of those suppliers for assistance, by increasing their exposure in your business in return for price concessions, which will increase profits, or even an agreement that the suppliers donate the cost difference directly to your school.

If these do apply to your business, more information may help.

Answer 4

I don't mean to sound lilke a jerk here, but if you've been reduced to asking Yahoo Answers on how to fulfill your own company's mission statement, then your company is probably not long for this world.

Answer 5

Check gov grants on the computer you might be able to get a grant for this type of business. Good luck

Answer 6

Try some business tips on this site