Elizayo Blog

If you spend enough time working in the nonprofit sector, you quickly realize that the playing field isn't just uneven—it’s an entirely different game depending on who is playing.

Why do we expect non-profits to solve our country’s most complex systemic crises with a 10% cap on operational costs? In the corporate world, we know that elite talent and robust infrastructure require serious investment. Yet, when it comes to the social sector, basic business logic frequently vanishes.

An email pings. It’s an alert for a massive grant focused on an 'Advanced Blockchain AI Data-Internet Gadget.' Suddenly, your director is wide-eyed and foaming at the mouth with excitement, actively rewriting your NPO's entire mandate just to qualify for this shiny new tech grant. Welcome to Shiny Object Syndrome

Ever wonder why "helping people" became "catalyzing agency"? An investigation into why donors and policymakers develop buzzwords to de-risk investments and drive the funding cycle.

Mission drift occurs when an NPO moves away from its original purpose to satisfy the requirements of a funder or to chase a "buzzword" trend.

It’s a classic nonprofit moment: someone lands a "golden" email address for a philanthropist or corporate CSR lead. The office buzzes as if the check is already in the mail. But more often than not, that email address becomes a digital paperweight. The excitement is understandable, but the execution? That’s where the wheels fall off. To move from a simple contact to a sustainable partnership, your organization needs a robust donor cultivation strategy that prioritizes the rel

NGO sectors across the world provide services that the government sectors often fail to provide, and the NGO sector of South Africa is no exception. The Non-profit sector in SA played a pivotal role in addressing societal challenges, advocating for meaningful causes, and providing crucial services to communities in need prior to democracy. Post 1994 many Non-Profits argued they can provide better, more efficient, and cost-effective services than government departments, becau

Are NPO losing their visions/mission for a TPA

NPO’s and civil society organisation by nature inhabit a world of relationships. Whether between NPOs and beneficiaries, local NPOs and their partners, NPOs and donors, governments, the private sector, relationships are foundational to everything the sector does. However the term ‘partnership’ has been diminished by misuse and is applied to a range of relationships and at this stage is quite often a devalued term. In addition Network’ and ‘networking’ have become something o

When I was at university (some 35 years back) I had to write a paper on the differences between a For-profit and Not-for-Profit organisations. Suffice it to say it was not a great success- my approach was that there was no difference in method and routines – only a difference in what you do with the end result. (Profit). Since then much has changed and a business approach to NPO management is mostly accepted by all, with the qualifying difference that where a Business/For Pro