To grow, or not to grow?

In the ever-growing world of the non-profit sector, I often wonder if I am doing everything I can for my small non-profit. My organization is volunteer-based, which means no paid employees and no regular hours. I have a part-time job and a couple of kids, so I don't have a whole lot of extra time to devote to the cause. But the cause is very important to me, so I do what I can and end up postponing a lot of great ideas. I often have to convince myself that doing what I can, when I can, is much better than doing nothing at all.

I am blessed with a few active board members and a couple of enthusiastic volunteers / supporters who are extremely helpful when it comes to crunch time. I am also blessed with generous support from the public and corporate sectors… for this I am grateful.

As much as growing bigger and doing more is the goal of any non-profit, a part of me feels it is best for the organization to stay small, uncomplicated, and simple. After all, who wants to deal with employees, payroll taxes, and idiotic administrative duties that take away from the mission? Large non-profits can get a lot accomplished, but there's a fine line between whether that's where we need to be yet, if ever. Do we want to grow so much that all of those business requirements become necessary?