Deciding on our Mission

If you were to ask us what our plans were for KarmaCompany two years ago, Sriram's answer would've been something like this: "We're going to recruit skilled volunteers from various outreach groups with nonprofits."

If you were to ask a year ago, it would've been "We're going to hire staff members who are experts in their field: business managers, designers, and fundraisers. Then we'll give select nonprofits a 'makeover' to improve their operations."

And me? Well, I wanted to do something with animals. And gender equality. But I hadn't a clue how--or if--this fit in with what Sriram wanted to do.

To say our mission changed over the years would clearly be an understatement.

Which brings me to our first point:

Know thyself
Finding our perfect mission meant figuring our skills and passions. For me, I wanted to do meaningful work with animal rights organizations and figure out a way to even the clear gender divide here in India.

For Sriram, the man is one of the best social connectors you'll ever meet. His iPhone has about 1,000+ contacts, and he's brazen about calling people up for meetings and get-togethers. He's also exceptionally good at asking for things.

Both of us love coming up with ideas, and on our good days, we can figure out a clear outline on how to make it happen.

Know thy resources
We had to get a clear idea of what we could contribute financially and with our time. We assessed our budget, and how much time we could dedicate to the organization--interestingly, we found that we were more willing to give financially than with time. This left us in a bit of a quandary: we wanted to make our own organization happen, but there was a gnawing feeling in my mind that perhaps I simply wasn't willing to put in the work, or that I couldn't put in the work.

Suffice it to say, this revelation bothered me a bit. Until... it dawned on us that we could collaborate with existing organizations that are already doing amazing work in the field. This way, we could commit money AND time; a win-win situation.

Given our ratio between time and money, it made perfect sense to use this model.

Know thy limits
Of course... we're far from perfect. While we love coming up with ideas, neither of us want to dedicate ourselves to any one project or mission. This was one of the hardest things for me when it came to getting started--I wanted to build community gardens... but I didn't know if I wanted to dedicate every waking moment to that vision. I wanted to build an animal shelter... but what would happen if we were to move to a new city, or a new country? Plus, I felt like I had to choose one thing over the other.

Besides our attention deficit disorder, there were other limitations: we love traveling. Both of us were concerned that starting an organization would curtail our travels due to our responsibilities to the mission and to a possible team of employees.

These were clear limits for us, and one way we adapted to both was by having a number of focus areas (to keep life spicy) and have it project based so there was a clear start and end date.

And so, it was with these things in mind that we formulated our mission. All of it came from a fusion of our passions, strengths, and yes, even our weaknesses. Thus was born KarmaCompany. =)