Scaling Your Nonprofit: Tools and Tips with Ben Lambert and Adam Cohen of Kids Being Kids
How are ideas made a reality?
This week on Nonprofit Connect, we break down scaling your nonprofit with Ben Lambert and Adam Cohen, founders of Kids Being Kids. Together, we explore how Ben and Adam collect and redistribute used sports equipment to underprivileged children, how they scale their business, the challenges they’ve faced, and their plans for the future. This is a must-listen for anyone wanting to get the lowdown on how to pursue a good idea.
The origins of kids being kids
Ben and Adam discuss realizing they owned lots of unused sports equipment that were gathering dust, and then imagining that there were many other families for whom the same was true. They hatched a plan overnight to collect this equipment and “find a new life for it," redistributing it to children in need who may not be able to afford their own.
Adam and Ben stress that a lot of the kits they redistribute are brand new or unused. There are two sides to the business model: collection and distribution. Collection is simply based around volunteers knocking on doors, whereas distribution is down to organizations that have partnered with Kids Being Kids.
Challenges
When asked about the challenges they have faced, Ben and Adam mention the initial struggle of finding distribution channels for the collected equipment. While acquiring the kit did not prove difficult, subsequently getting rid of it was! This is where Kids Being Kids’ partnerships came into things.
Although Adam and Ben first had to prove their legitimacy and effectiveness, organizations such as New Balance, YMCA, and Mustangs Baseball have all partnered with Kids Being Kids. They believe in their vision and allow them far greater outreach.
“Working with those institutions has helped us tremendously because not only are they large actors with organizational structures in place, but they also have programs that serve these underprivileged kids that we're trying to find.”
The Future of Kids Being Kids
The next step for Kids Being Kids is to run big fundraising events that will be used to buy even more equipment and distribute it to families. Although they currently include a 20% charge to cover tax, in future they want to be able to give away equipment totally for free. Adam and Ben are seeking to create lasting infrastructure and professionalize the operation by bringing on experienced full-time employees.
Starting an Organization as a College Student
Starting and running an organization is no mean feat, especially when you’re in school full-time. Adam and Ben say that although being college students did mean some people looked down on them, it has helped them get a “foot in the door” in other places where this demonstrated initiative. They say their main reason for success is that they’ve provided a service to people (decluttering) and been a demonstrably good cause.
Advice For Others
Adam and Ben say that if you’re deciding whether or not to start a project or an organization, the best thing you can do is just go for it. Even if you think an idea has been done, there’s still value in pursuing it—they suggest that they were still passionate about Kids Being Kids, even though it’s not a revolutionary idea.
They stress that the key to all ideas is to follow through. An idea is worth nothing if it isn’t made a reality:
“If you don't have that drive for someone to believe in what you want to do, it'll just hit a dead end, and then everything will dissipate, right? So I think if you're gonna start an idea, be prepared to follow through.”
Listen to the Whole Episode!
If you plan to join a nonprofit organization, this episode is a must-listen.
Follow the link below and listen to the full episode of Nonprofit Connect! Or better yet, connect with Rogue Creatives directly to see how we can improve your nonprofit’s story to raise more revenue.