Most community leaders don’t quit because they lack passion...

/Kipainoi's Letter

You secure your first grant, but once the program ends, the money dries up. You have a day job that pays the bills but pulls you away from the work that gives you purpose. You watch your vision—your reason for starting—slowly shrink into a side project, only kept alive by branded T-shirts, food drives, and endless meetings.

Welcome to CBO Founders' hell.

It’s that brutal space between success and collapse, where effort alone isn’t enough. But here’s the thing: those who make it through don’t have more resources—they have more resilience. And if you’re in the thick of it right now, this letter is for you.

Here’s a hard truth:

My friend, and I had been travelling around Kenya…

We were the #WarriorsOnTour

You can imagine…

Our inboxes were full.

People wanted to join Warriors On Tour…

but…

Our intention was not business…
we just wanted to explore…
we had no capacity to carry people with us then,
we were hitch-hiking on whatever we could,
used public transport
rode on motorbikes…

We just wanted to go!

then…

One day we thought…
"Why don't we have a charitable component attached to this?
Too many people are asking anyway…

That was how #MentorsOnTour was born
and was the day #WarriorsOnTour died.

We had no formal plan, no organisation, no finances…
We just called schools, asked if we could come speak with students,
got volunteers… and off we went.

Everyone was happy.

Volunteers loved the videos we made,

schools loved the break from normal routine,

pupils loved the sessions…

and more schools booked mentorship weekends with us.

It was beautiful!

As the team grew, so did the demand for planning.

We now had to raise funds to hire a van…
or fuel a car to carry us all…
we needed meals, internet…

so we finally registered a Community-Based Organisation (CBO) and divided roles…

but we were all young, mostly unemployed out-of-school people,
and bootstrapping was our funding model.

The concept of funding was not clear to us.
So we used any money we came by despite most of us not having jobs.

This operation was running on pure passion and sacrifice.
Some teachers went into their pockets and bought us lunch, friends often chipped into fuel costs and we sailed on.

We finally got a partnership with a local NGO and we did one teen training.
Our wings were finally unfolding… we were finally on a path to success.

But that didn't last long….

We got jobs,

schedules became tight,

our school visits became irregular…

Covid-19 came…

We took a break…

We Never resumed!

That's how #MentorsOnTour died ☹️ 

Some Context
"Founders' hell" in this context refers to the frustrating and challenging early stages of starting a community-based organisation where progress feels slow, mistakes are frequent, and the overall experience can be discouraging, often leading to self-doubt and the temptation to quit, but pushing through this phase is considered necessary to reach a higher level of proficiency.

But I took away some lessons from this experience and have built on them over the years.

The leader carries the vision

However democratic you'd like to be, there has to be someone to lead the team forward. You shy away from being seen as "the leader"… so I you consult with everyone for validation…

Looking back at my experience, that often costs founders a big deal.
People like being led… however unpleasant this may sound, it's the truth.

If you started it, keep it going by taking the lead or delegate the role to someone.

Believe in your dream and act on it with or without financial support

It is okay to fund the program from your pocket, and I wish this was a more sustainable model. I think this is the true definition of the term "community-led"

This is one aspect I'm proud of from my experience at Mentors on tour… and I say this having served more than 2000 activists/ CBOs across Africa, who have done the same. We did quite a lot with next to nothing… and it was fulfilling.

However, we can agree how difficult that truly is…

I can't count the number of times someone came to me and said…
'Connect me to a 'mzungu' (white person) to fund this idea I want to implement'

Well, first I'm not in that business of connecting people based on race…

and on listening to the idea, I go… ''you probably need to prove that this actually works before convincing anyone to support.'' We assume that the ideas in your heads will change the world and that funders have an obligation to fund us based on the idea still in the head!

My advice: Tighten your shoe straps and start walking.
Lead the way, others will follow.

Set up structures

But if you want to go the funders' way… which you probably will… try walk in your potential funder's shoes.

Remember that they are often also reporting to someone else and are not just responsible for you. Understand that you need at least some basic structures so they are sure they are not funding criminals.

Set the following up

1. Organisation structure (register your with relevant government entities)

2. Financial structures (get a bank account at least)

3. Evidence of work done (take pictures, record videos, write reports - even when not answerable to anyone.)

4. Referrals (make friends with people who can put in the word for you)

You see, the financial model for long-term grassroots funding has been ineffective for long.
Most big funding programs that are meant to trickle down to the grassroots are either planned for years, or done really fast, sometimes as an afterthought.

For you, ‘wing'ing’… hoping and praying that your work will speak for itself it is simply not a viable option. You cannot just wish for funding and do nothing.

Understand your funders

You see, a national NGO will need to account money given to them by another donor.
A big chunk of this is taxpayers' money… so, think of USAID, FCDO…

despite speaking about "community-led solutions, the nature of such grants is almost always pretty slow and bureaucratic…

Subgranting entities
Now, these are organisations considerably high up in the national development sector. They understand the politics, have the policies and hire professionals to make sure that big doonors' goals are met.

These sit at the negotiation tables… and spell out what is right to fund on the ground.. on your behalf! I have been in those tables myself… so I know what this means.

And that is where you come in.

For grants that have direct CBO implementation requirements, these national entities have to prove that they have implementing partners on the ground.

This is why there's much focus on training grassroots organisations.

Them building your capacity as an NGO is a long-term investment.
Your organisation is their asset.

I no way I'm I saying that this is wrong to do. I think we need to have as many long-term partnerships as possible.

But…

Don't think you are inferior.

These national subgranting organisations depend on you, your capacity and results to get more funding. So reach out to these national-level NGOs, see who funds them, how money trickles down from the funder and negotiate a way to work with them.

Collaborate: Attend events and conferences

As much as I advocate for less and less conferences and more action on the ground, truth is… funders are looking for partners and the other way round is true.
Big events provide this opportunity, and you should take it.

When you get a chance, attend such networking opportunities and pitch your work.

Assignment

Identify icons you look up to… the successful people in your nonprofit space.

Google them…
Call them…
Email them…
Find out what they did to get there.

Let me know what you found on Linked-In via this link:

Jeremiah.

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