Is It Time to Change the Nonprofit Business Model? With Svetlana Ratnikova of Impact Investors Network
Welcome to the latest episode of the Nonprofit Connect podcast, brought to you by Rogue Creatives, made to connect with and learn from people in the nonprofit hemisphere. I’m your host, Matt Barnes, and you’ll want to stick around for this one, folks.
Our guest today is Svetlana Ratnikova, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Impact Investors Network, a for-profit social enterprise focused on making the world a better place while providing members with a positive return and full transparency around the flow of funds. She is also the Founder & CEO of IWB Immigrant Women in Business, the Co-Founder of RTG Group, and the Co-Founder of Terra Naturals Inc.!
Needless to say, she’s an impressive woman.
So without further ado, I’d like to share some of my thoughts from the episode and what I think we could all learn from Svetlana - especially in regard to her unique background.
Is it time for change?
Svetlana is an interesting character in the charity world. After five weeks of boredom in retirement, she decided to make a difference; she leveraged her friends and business advisors in order to make it work, using her many years of experience and connections to create “Immigrant Women in Business.”
“We know that half of the women around the world don’t have basic human rights. When they come to this country, they’re good to go. I strongly believe that everybody can succeed; they can play in our economy or create their own. So that’s really women empowerment through economic empowerment for immigrant women in business.” – Svetlana Ratnikova
But what separates her from other nonprofits? What makes her so special? Well, she holds the belief that the entire non-profit business model needs a rejig. Her entire business is about not just asking for donations from people but to reward them for donating in the first place. The systems we have in place, as great as they’ve been, are tired, and change isn’t happening fast enough.
She says, “It’s the way to do that today; we need a change! We need to look at things in a different way. If you look at numbers, they’re not getting better. What does that tell you to any entrepreneur or any change-maker? You look at numbers. Homelessness is on the rise. Food insecurity is on the rise. Domestic violence is on the rise. Everything is not getting better; it’s getting worse. It tells us that we need to create new business models.”
A clash of values
We’re at a bizarre point in the world at the moment. People are torn between making it within the capitalist system to succeed, while also wanting to make a difference. Social media has opened people’s eyes to the state of the world and how much needs to change; it’s driving people to want to make a difference.
So how do you strike that balance? How do you look out for yourself while trying to transform the lives of others? Svetlana has very smartly figured it out; it’s all about collaboration. She says, “People, they need help. So every single investor, whatever they invest in, they have to open their heart and they have to invest in the improvement of humanity. It’s the time to put the thinking hat on and drive the change.”
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