Nonprofits are businesses too!
As a nonprofit corporation in the application process for a 501(C)3 tax deductible and exempt status, Access Ready, Inc. is also a business. The corporate team and Board of Directors are being assembled with that in mind. No, nonprofits are not in the business of making a profit, but they should be in the business of creating excess revenue in order to further their efforts. Today's nonprofits cannot rely on sponsorships, fundraising, and grants to support themselves alone. Access Ready, Inc. will support its work through those traditional methods. It will also utilize participation, consulting and product or service fees that are related to its work. It is the intention that this nonprofit will be run like a business.
A major part of Access Ready Inc's purpose is to create employment and business opportunities to benefit people with disabilities and organizations that represent and work within the disability community. There is great funding potential within the information and communications technology space where Access Ready is focused. Tapping into that funding will enable the building of employment and business opportunities in support of the Access Ready mission, vision, values and purpose. Yes, Access Ready is an advocacy organization focused on accessible information and communications technology and to be effective it must utilize funding streams as advanced as the technology space it seeks to shape. This shaping must be more than a policy debate. It must offer solutions that are sensitive to cost, capabilities, and security.
In order to be run like a twenty-first-century business, Access Ready, Inc. needs practical, experienced, and hard-core business professionals on the Board of Directors to light its path forward. Professionals who bring an understanding of product, service delivery and building business opportunities. Individuals who can offer an experienced view of new concepts without being afraid of them. Business management professionals with the skills to establish management policies, procedures, and programs necessary to allow the organization to grow and thrive. One such business management professional who stepped up first to be an incorporator and then to join the Access Ready Board of Directors comes with over forty years of business experience. Access Ready is proud to welcome Gust Dean Doulou to its Board of Directors.
Some may question a hard business approach to the management of a nonprofit, but times have changed and successful efforts require hardcore business practices. Advocacy is a costly business and many individuals have covered the cost out of their own pocket. Access Ready intends to change this dynamic by providing funding for such efforts through its Associate and Affiliate programs. This is admittedly a change in how advocacy is funded and employment or business opportunities for people with disabilities have been created. In the coming weeks, these opportunities will be presented through this blog and on
accessready.org. These programs are built on the concept that advocating for change is not enough, We need to offer real and cost-effective solutions as well.
Access Ready, Inc. is determined to expand the organization's impact on the development, purchasing and management of information and communications technology through dynamic national Associate and Affiliate programs. To support this growth, a series of Access Ready, Inclusion Can't Wait Listening sessions are bringing out great input and advocates who want to help. At the first listening session held at the NFB Texas 2018 convention, the participants offered input on a wide range of subjects from inaccessible elections to new concepts in information technologies. Several people also stepped up asking to be involved in Access Ready. Doug Towne, Chair and CEO of Access Ready facilitated said, "I am so pleased to have this many great advocates offer their experience, understanding, and know-how to make the effort stronger."
Douglas George Towne
Chair and Chief Executive Officer,
Access Ready, Inc.
