In the popular imagination, a charity is often pictured as a group of well-meaning individuals gathered around a kitchen table, fuelled by passion and a shared desire to change the world. While passion is the essential spark for any philanthropic endeavour, the harsh reality is that passion alone is a poor substitute for a balance sheet, a strategic plan, professional marketing and communication and a robust governance structure. The truth is that charities are complex organizations. In many ways, they are more difficult to run than for-profit businesses. They face unique tax regulations, rigorous public scrutiny, complex logistical hurdles, and the constant pressure of managing a “double bottom line”—social impact and financial viability. The fact that they are non-for-profit doesn’t mean they don’t need to have expenditures lower than income. It merely means that if they have a surplus, it doesn’t pay dividends to shareholders. To succeed today, a charity requires more than just good intentions; it requires professional management.
The power of the boardroom
My perspective on this is shaped by my roles in two high-performing organizations. As Vice President at CBPC, I see daily how professional coaching and strategic leadership transform businesses. I bring that same lens to my volunteer work with Convoy4Ukraine, an organization dedicated to providing tangible, life-saving aid.
Both organizations share a common denominator: they are run by committees of trustees who are highly experienced business owners and directors. These are individuals who understand how to manage and coordinate people, allocate funds toward the right initiatives legally and efficiently, and optimize resources under pressure. At Convoy4Ukraine, for instance, we aren’t just “sending boxes.” We are managing an international supply chain, navigating customs, ensuring vehicle safety, and coordinating high-stakes logistics in a conflict zone. This level of operation doesn’t happen through “good vibes”—it happens because the people at the helm have spent decades learning how to lead in the corporate world and they work well as a coordinated team.
The danger of the “lovely but clueless” volunteer
In the past, I have offered my pro-bono coaching services to other charities that lacked this professional backbone. These organizations were invariably staffed by “lovely” people—individuals with enormous hearts and a genuine desire to help. However, from an organizational standpoint, the results were often shockingly bad.
Without professional management, these charities frequently fell into common traps:
- Mission creep: trying to do everything and achieving nothing.
- Financial opacity: a lack of understanding regarding cash flow or long-term sustainability.
- Operational paralysis: an inability to make hard decisions because the “culture of nice” prevented honest feedback.
In several cases, after just a few hours of intensive team coaching, the reality of their situation became undeniable. When we applied a professional lens to their operations, these groups realized they were not actually helping their cause; they were merely spinning their wheels and wasting resources. In a couple of instances, the most responsible decision they could make was to either liquidate the charity or put it on an indefinite pause until proper funds, resources, and professional volunteers could be secured.
Professionalism is an act of stewardship
Some argue that “professionalizing” a charity takes the heart out of it. I argue the exact opposite. If you are asking the public for their hard-earned money, you have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that money is managed with the highest level of competence. Mismanaging a charity through incompetence is just as damaging to the cause as mismanaging it through malice. If we want to solve the world’s most pressing problems—be it supporting a nation under siege or providing local community services—we must treat our charities with the same seriousness we treat our businesses. We need trustees who know how to read a P&L statement, directors who understand HR law, and leaders who can coach a team toward a high-performance goal. Goodwill gets you started. But it is professional management that delivers on the promise.