5 Lessons I Learned About Starting NGOs

Originally published October 2022. Revised October 2026.

In 2018, while studying for my MBA at the University of Sydney, I co-founded the South Sudan Library Foundation. We helped establish the Juba Public Peace Library, which opened in 2019. I began with an interest in improving access to books and education. The work quickly became much more specific: finding local partners, buying books, arranging transport, paying operating costs, and understanding how people would use the space.

Looking back, the most useful lessons concern the design of the organization around the project. A worthwhile purpose does not resolve who makes decisions, who pays recurring costs, or whether a new organization is the best way to help. These are five things I would examine more carefully if I were starting again.

1. Give local knowledge a real role in decisions

Mbonisi Sibanda, one of my MBA classmates, introduced me to Yawusa Kintha. Our working relationship became central to the foundation. Yawusa understood people and circumstances I could not assess from Australia, and the project depended on other people’s knowledge at nearly every stage.

Our South Sudanese attorney handled incorporation and advised on legal requirements. In Nairobi, a street vendor connected us with Bellaplace Books for a finder’s fee. Yawusa’s uncle helped transport books from Nairobi to Juba. Each relationship solved a specific problem that a plan written from a distance would have missed.

The lesson I take from this is about authority as well as information. Asking a local partner for advice is of limited value if decisions have already been made elsewhere. I would be more explicit from the beginning about which decisions local colleagues should make, what spending they can approve, and how disagreements should be resolved.

I would also budget for that expertise. Time spent navigating suppliers, transport, and local requirements is real work. Treating it as an informal favor can hide the actual cost of a project and place an unreasonable burden on the people closest to it.

Buying books in Nairobi. A local bookseller introduced us to Bellaplace Books, which supplied books for the library.

2. Budget for the operation, not just the opening

My original plan included a full library and a computerized checkout system. Those were tangible things to build and explain to donors. The continuing obligations were less visible: staff, facilities, electricity, transport, maintenance, and replacement materials.

I would now evaluate the full operating model before committing to a facility. What does an ordinary month cost? Which expenses continue if donations slow? Who covers an unexpected repair? A donated asset can still create an obligation the organization cannot support.

I would also compare owning a facility with working through existing schools or community organizations. If the purpose is access to books, our own building is one possible method. A partnership may use scarce resources better. That comparison should include management time and administrative work as well as the financial budget.

3. Separate the purpose from the original design

We began with plans for a library serving hundreds of students. Over time, our work also included sending books and resources to organizations already operating in the community. That experience made me reconsider how much of the original design was necessary to achieve the purpose.

Visitors also valued things I had not initially treated as central: cooling, Wi-Fi, and electricity. Those uses were evidence about the space’s value. They deserved attention alongside the number of books on the shelves.

I would be careful about measurement here. Books delivered and people visiting are useful operating figures, but they do not by themselves establish an improvement in literacy. I would want to understand who returns, what they use, what prevents others from participating, and what teachers or community partners observe. The measures should match the claim we are making, and the cost of collecting them should be proportionate to the project.

4. Test the funding assumptions early

We initially expected corporate sponsorships and donations to fund SSLF. That approach was not sufficient on its own, so we explored book sales, grants, and other sources of income.

Each source brings a different set of constraints. A grant can support a defined activity without covering the organization’s continuing costs. Selling books creates work around pricing, stock, and customers. Sponsorship may require reporting and renewal efforts. More sources of income can also mean more work for a small team.

If I were starting again, I would distinguish dependable income from possibilities still being explored. I would plan the basic operation around what we could reasonably support, then expand when the funding and operating capacity were clearer. I would also set a point at which an unsuccessful funding approach should change, instead of treating another round of effort as the only option.

5. Make relationships workable over time

Trust with community members, donors, and partners developed through follow-through. An introduction could start a relationship, but people needed to see whether we did what we said we would do.

I also learned to ask volunteers what they wanted to work on. Matching interests and skills to the work made more sense than assigning tasks based only on what was urgent. At the same time, essential work still needs an owner even when it is repetitive or unappealing.

I would make responsibilities, time commitments, and handovers clearer. A project becomes fragile when only one person knows how a supplier is paid or how a shipment is arranged. Basic records and shared knowledge would reduce that dependence. They would also make it easier for someone to step back without putting an unreasonable load on everyone else.

What I would do differently

I would begin by examining existing organizations and the gaps they could not currently fill. Then I would compare a partnership, a small trial, and a new organization on cost, local responsibility, and the work each would require over time.

Before expanding, I would want clear answers to four questions: who uses the service, who runs it, what an ordinary month costs, and what happens when a key person or source of funding is unavailable. I would keep those answers open to revision as the people using and operating the project taught us more.

The library experience changed how I think about starting an NGO. I spend more time considering the continuing obligations behind an idea and whether the structure gives the people doing the work enough support and authority to carry it forward.