I’ve been on the board of Partnerships with Industry (PWI) for four years. PWI helps developmentally disabled adults find work and learn job skills. The goal of every client we serve is to create a tax payer, proud to have work and devoted to his or her job.
At the time I joined PWI’s board, I was busy. I was starting a new business, getting ready to start a family, doing a lot of travel, and quite frankly too busy to take on new ventures. When Mark Berger asked me to join the board, I said no. Being a good CEO, he asked me to lunch anyway. Over lunch he explained why PWI needed me. I explained why I couldn’t. He said, “Great, so when can you start?” In retrospect, I realize he was asking me when we should have lunch next. But at the time, I interpreted it as “I won’t take no for an answer.” The more I thought about it, the more I was intrigued. PWI was exactly what I was looking for in a non-profit. I’d love to be on the board. And I told him as much the next week.
Why I wanted to be on the board of PWI is related to that moxie Mark showed that day. He wasn’t taking no for an answer. And much like the developmentally disabled adults that PWI serves, he refused to let circumstance dictate his future. PWI, in short, is a can-do kind of place. And I am more than happy about my decision to get involved, stay involved and, now, extend my commitment to the organization through our most recent venture.
The book we just published, our first, and the business which we’re building behind it, is at once a venture in publishing and a social venture where the major beneficiaries of our work is PWI. Every book we sell half of the revenues go directly to PWI. They are, in every sense of the word, partners with us in this venture. They are doing the fulfillment, customer service, and have even invested directly into the project as a way of building domain expertise in the growing eCommerce space. For them, partnering with us and Gina and Adam, is another chance they have to take control of their destiny. Rather than relying on state funds for their income, they are creating their own revenue streams.
When Gina and Adam first came to us with the opportunity of helping them publish their book, we did not anticipate it leading to this. We had met our revenue goals for the year and we thought this would be a great way for us to stretch ourselves and learn. So when PWI offered to help us, Gina and Adam couldn’t have been more gracious in helping them.
Together, this is what we’ve been able to accomplish. PWI printed 2500 copies of the book at their own cost. When you complete a purchase of a printed book they do the fulfillment – they pack the book in an envelope, include your receipt, slap a shipping label on the front, seal it, and load it ship it. They work with our eCommerce system (google checkout) to send you notification that the book is shipping and, in the unlikely event that the book you receive is something you want to return, process the return. They do all of this in order to share in the revenues on each sale. How much revenue? Half. For each $25 book we sell, $12.50 goes to PWI. They have the talent and they deserve it. We couldn’t be happier to share our wealth with theirs.
There are a lot of alternatives out there for us. At the end of our 2500 copies, we’ll switch to one of them. But know that today, when you’re purchasing the book, you’re sharing in a social venture where each of us – from the publisher, to the writers, to the editors, to the warehouse staff – is super excited to be a part of the production.
