What A Fast-Growing Non-Profit Can Teach Your Business

Salman Khan didn’t set out to create a phenomenon. And even as his project grew from simply helping his cousin advance her math skills into a worldwide resource for parents, teachers and students, he didn’t do it for the money.

He did it for others. In this short video on BigThink.com, Khan explains how his offer to help his 12-year-old cousin catch up with some personalized tutoring turned into what is today a network of more than 80 experts, with financial backing from the likes of the Gates Foundation, Google and The Walt Disney Company. Khan Academy, he says, was created without a business plan—much to the horror of his business school cohorts—but with a focus on bettering the world through offering free education resources.

Khan says he simply kept adding more and more content, helping more and more people, until what had been a hobby reached the critical mass that has launched it to the forefront of parents’ efforts to help their children master everything from algebra to Neoclassical art.

While businesses may not have purely altruistic goals, they can see tremendous results when they use Khan’s concept of creating content that benefits the greater good. I’ve seen it happen. JONES helped TeleVox conduct original research into the nation’s healthcare, looking specifically at ways that the company’s technology can help patients improve their health. Our case study outlines how the Healthy World Research Initiative benefited patients, caregivers and TeleVox in the process.

Khan Acadamey is a great example of what a fast-growing non-profit can teach your business.  How are you helping others?