Consulting firm for starting up a nonprofit?

[alan]

I will be representing a friend in meetings with a business consulting firm thats helping him start a charity/nonprofit organisation here.

I have no qualifications/expertise, however i was told that my job will be to relay and communicate the info to my friend who doesnt have that expertise either, and he trusts my common sense in that ill understand what theyre telling me just as much as he would. The firm itself asked for a rep of his and said that no qualifications were necessary.

I have a lot of free time now and want to help him with that.

However id like to be as prepared as i can be, the organisation will be at a relatively high level locally.

What should i expect from the consulting firm? What questions should i be asking?
Or should i just shut up and relay info.

 

[dragon8]

Why isn't your friend there in the meetings with you? Are you going to be part of the non-profit?

 

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by alan

The firm itself asked for a rep of his and said that no qualifications were necessary.

This is strange, why not just deal with him directly if he's not a celebrity or something.

 

[dragon8]

Originally Posted by yerfdog

This is strange, why not just deal with him directly if he's not a celebrity or something.

Sounds like a scam. Whoever says "No experience necessary" to open and run a non-profit is absolutely not being truthful.

I would avoid.

 

[alan]

No no its not a scam. Far from it.

My friend is the son of someone "very important", and hes helping his parent handle the launch of the charity.

He was attending the meetings with an experienced aide, there was some stalling from the consulting firm, which then asked him to name a rep when he complained about the slow process.

I think they figured because of his high profile hed be too busy to follow along.

He chose to go along with this and asked me.


They asked for no experience only for the rep position, not anything related to heading or running the charity.

They did however say that the person whod hold this position could stay with the company later, but i did find that confusing since i wasnt sure that a few monthes of meeting could give you enough qualifications to be a part of it, although they prob ment be a part at some lower level.

But again, no scam here.

Just wanted to have some general idea of what theyd be presenting and what i could offer if someone had any insight

 

[CouttsClient]

I don't get it.

They asked for a representative when he, the person heading the startup, complained they were moving slowly. That indicates to me that he was indeed prepared and able to move forward and they weren't. Why would they need a representative for him if he is so eager to have some progress?

If you are just there to pass along information that can be done in documents/via phone conferencing and they certainly don't need a representative with "no experience" to do such a thing. I have found that this adds another layer of confusion and communication gap. Unless you have experience to bring to the table I don't see what your purpose is

 

[alan]

^ he wont be the head, hes just putting it together. The one who communicated the complaints is the experienced aide, and my friend had postponed a couple of times before, that and his high profile is what im assuming led the firm to ask for a rep. Or maybe they wanted to give him the choice to nominate himself if he wanted to. That was how i understood it and i communicated that to him, he said hed rather just follow it litterally and asked me.

They had only had 1 meeting before, so its not like he was attending for a while and they asked for someone else.

 

[dragon8]

I hope the charity works out and kudos to your friend and his family for their generousity.

 

[CouttsClient]

Originally Posted by dragon8

I hope the charity works out and kudos to your friend and his family for their generousity.
+1

 

[alan]

Ty, and hes a very close friend of mine and its a great cause, so i want to to do whatever i can to help him out here.