Business Record innovationIOWA: Meet a Nonprofit That Wants to Run Like a Startup

Hannah Inman, CEO of the Great Outdoors Foundation, has some advice for anyone who wants to work in fundraising.

Spend time in sales.

Prior to becoming CEO, she worked in pharmaceutical sales, among other experiences.

“It taught me to not take rejection personally,” she said. “It also taught me that no doesn’t always mean no. It just means not right now. And it also means that I’m not connecting with them on what their needs are.”

Inman and other leaders at the Great Outdoors Foundation say they operate the nonprofit like a startup, festooning it with whiteboards, seeking inspiration from startup culture and innovative solutions to conservation and water quality.

Among the organization’s innovative solutions is its Conservation Acceleration Fund, a funding mechanism it launched two years ago designed to activate key conservation initiatives through strategic investments.

“What I’ve learned from a lot of the people in the startup world is do you have a problem [to solve]?” Inman said. “But how do you actually get to the essence of what the real problem is? And a lot of times, it’s putting yourself in that person’s shoes and understanding what they’re dealing with.”

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