Nonprofits - Lessons From the Great Depression

The Fantastic Depression ought to have been a tough time for a number of consumers. But I have to admit that all the talk I heard of it from my parents and grandparents was tinged with nostalgia. It was a time when persons discovered that cash wasn't the most necessary factor. They had to be creative to get by and their is some sense of accomplishment that comes from one thing tough won. Charities were needed at the time, this was prior to Medicare and Social Security but funding was restricted. When polio became an epidemic there was a new crisis to battle. That's how the March of Dimes came to be.


Do you know the story of the March of Dimes? I did not till Dave Gobel, a wise nonprofit founder, told me about it. He discovered it whilst seeking for nonprofit successes in tough times (simply because he intends to grow The Methuselah Foundation now). Appears that President Franklin Roosevelt, who had polio, challenged the country to solve the trouble. To fund the investigation to acquire a cure, he asked absolutely everyone to send their dimes to the White Residence.


Wow! Brilliant and it worked, the income came in and the cure was found.


The March of Dimes reached its vision and had to get a new 1 - the dream of any nonprofit. All this in the worst economic time in our country's history!


What did the March of Dimes have going for it?




  1. An Superb Name: it is uncomplicated to relate to, consists of action (March) and the request (Dimes).

  2. A Problem that everyone could comprehend: Polio was an epidemic.

  3. A Call To Action: Couldn't be less complicated, "Send your dimes to the White Home."

  4. A Sense of Urgency: It desires to be solved now and the President says it can be.

  5. A Celebrity: they had the ultimate, a well-known President with polio. Instant credibility.

  6. The Depression: Many people had less cash but a want to do something dimes were manageable for most absolutely everyone, at every age.

  7. New Media: The radio, and later television, helped spread details on polio and the March of Dimes.


You can have all those items too (well, possibly not the President, but somebody credible). Let the good results of the March of Dimes inspire you. The key is to concentrate on what is readily available to you rather of what is not. That modify of thinking will make all the difference in your success.