Turning Nonprofits into For-Profits

June 15, 2009, Business Week — The nonprofit Bikestation reached a crossroads in late 2007. Founded in Long Beach, Calif., in 1996 to design, build, and manage bike transit centers, the 10-employee organization couldn't handle all the calls coming in on its $300,000 budget, funded mostly through earned income. With little grant funding available, the board determined that the best way to meet demand was to raise money from private investors­—which meant turning Bikestation into a for-profit social venture. "We just didn't have the resources to expand the mission and the vision further," says Andréa White-Kjoss, who joined the nonprofit as CEO in 2004.