Non profit organisations are under immense pressure to generate their own income.  This pressure emanates from the following:

• Many governments of the world are running deficit budgets.
• The population in developing countries is on the increase, thus increasing the number of people in need.
• The population growth rate in many developed countries is stagnating, thus there are fewer tax payers able to look after the elderly who have a longer life span.
• Philanthropy is becoming selective and therefore demands more accountability and clear stated outputs from the social sector, thus increasing competition for available funds.
• Once the non profit organisation generates its own funds, it provides more autonomy for the organisation to decide on how the funds are spent.
• The non profit organisation can assure beneficiaries of a long term agreement.
• The morale of the organisation shifts to one of responsibility and accountability as every unit and every person engaging with the organisation strives to be responsible for the double bottom line in the social sector: quality projects and sustainable funding.

SHAWCO uses the Multiple Income Generating Strategy (MIGS ) model for generating revenue.  These initiatives are explained below.

SHAWCO Enterprise

Social Entrepreneurship

The world is just beginning to recognise and value the role of the 'social entrepreneur'.  Social Entrepreneurs are being recognised in many parts of the world for the work they do in alleviating poverty and finding unique solutions to problems of poverty faced by the world. Social entrepreneurs work as individuals, in non profit organisations, and in the public and private sectors.

The modern manager, in the private sector, is being called upon, not only to derive maximum profits in their businesses but also to satisfy the triple bottom line - social responsibility, environmental consciousness and financial sustainability. The next generation of managers should be able to take decisions and be responsible for the above three factors. He / She should also be able to identify products and marketing strategies for the large number of poor people in the world. In fact, the modern manager must be able to identify sustainable models that address the world's problems.

In the non-profit sector, the manager should be able to, not only provide quality services, but be able to innovate constantly, and also keep the projects financially sustainable.  This sustainability is achieved by weaning away organisations from dependence on funding.  Traditionally non-profits have been dependent on philanthropy.  Managers are realising that such dependence creates serious challenges as their organisations make long term plans and commitments for their beneficiaries, but are often unable to meet these obligations due to lack of funding.  Thus, they are looking at ways to wean their organisations away from such dependence.

SHAWCO has developed and is practising strategies that we term: Multiple Income Generating Strategies (MIGS) for non-profits.  This is a strategy whereby the organisation strives to create multiple income streams which might make use of one or more of the following: philanthropic income, mission related income and non-mission related income (cash cows).