Our Founding Principles
Humility: Very rarely is starting a nonprofit the most effective way to contribute towards a cause. It is with this in mind that Athari Group selects and nurtures its cohorts. Our mission is to connect good ideas with resources, not to help proliferate organizations needlessly. We respect that those closest to issues are usually best-suited to understand and tackle them, and it is important to us that the projects we support do not cause unintentional harm or waste, including duplicating efforts or taking jobs away from locals.
Collaboration: Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. If a nonprofit founder is an outsider in the community where she wants to work, she must partner with locals and secure buy-in from the community and the local government in order to
participate in our program. We also strive to dismantle the competitive mindset between nonprofits, and promote collaboration between the budding leaders we work with. Diversity of thought, culture, and perspective is scientifically proven to promote creativity and therefore new solutions.
Sustainability: Applicants must demonstrate that they are attending to their target area in a novel, unique way. We require founders to conduct ethical community research, engage in human-centered design, and understand the historical, economic, and social contexts of the culture or area they aim to assist. We will caution against the mindset of ‘solving’ complex problems with solutions that ‘should’ work. We will also convey the importance of what we call ‘economy of impact’, that is, the greatest positive influence via the most conservative amount of resources.
Program Overview
All of our workshops are taught by our network of established nonprofit founders, executives and experts. For the full list of those involved in our first cohort, view the team.
Dates
June 13th to August 15th, 2021
Mentoring
One-on-one mentoring with nonprofit founders (see our team page)
Application Deadline
June 1st, 2021
Financial Guidance
Each org will receive a CFO from a top master’s accounting program
Cohort Size
12 Organizations
Funding
Opportunity for up to $5,000 in seed funding
Workshops
15
Continual Support
Guidance upon graduation from the program leadership
Our Approach
Participants will be formally paired with a mentor based on their application.
After an introduction to mentoring and program expectations, participants have at least eight sessions with their mentor throughout the 10-week program.
As the program comes to a close, mentors have the option to invite mentees to continue in a coaching relationship.
As participants grow their knowledge of how to build an effective nonprofit, we will ensure their thinking is always multi-faceted. Linear thinking, which often results in leaders ignoring key areas related to an organization’s mission, will be cautioned against. Using the ‘Six Thinking Hats’ method as a framework for all of our mentorship discussions (and workshops where possible), we will drive creative thinking into the organizations we are helping to form. Workshops such as root cause analysis and human centered design will support this method of creative thinking and lead to innovative approaches and problem solving.
The Workshops
Root Cause Analysis
Impact Metrics
Fundraising (Pt 1)
Nonprofit Governance
Storytelling
Ecosystem Mapping
Fundraising (Pt 2)
Managing Volunteer Staff
Lean Prototyping
Vision Boarding
Strategy & Operations
Writing Grants & Proposals
Board Development
Branding & Marketing
Human Centered Design