1. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
by:
Omar Postigo-Martell
Well Translated LLC
omar@welltranslated.com
720-308-1179

2. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Audience survey. Non-profit experience?
Clarifying:
audience, translator/interpreter role, and language pair.
What’s in the title? A bit of history.
- Young Life volunteer (mid-1980’s)
- Staff Financial Manager at CSPC-PIRC (2003-2007)
- Board Treasurer at the Latino Chamber of Commerce (since 2008)
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3. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the nonprofit as an ideal clientele.
• Understand the lifecycles stages of nonprofit entities.
• Understand the relevance of linguistic service and how it relates to
entity’s capacity, performance and effectiveness.
• Develop a socially responsible marketing strategy and business.
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4. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Triple Bottom Line = people, planet and profits.
This is my secret to my Corporate Social Responsibility approach!
How?, When?, Why and for Who?
What about you?
20th century urbanist Patrick Geddes's notion of “folk, work and
Place”.
Freer Spreckley, 1981.
Social Audit: Management Tool for Co-operative Working.
John Elkington, 1998.
Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century
Business.
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5. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Have you defined your client?
Have you aligned your passion for a cause, your knowledge and skills
with the nonprofit sector’s needs? Is it a good match based on
your education, training, and interests?
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6. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Criticism…
• The triple bottom line is thought to be harmful by diverting business
attention away from its core competency.
• The nonprofit sector is unwilling or unable to pay the prevailing
rate(s).
• If reciprocal, what can they offer me? Is that a fair and realistic
expectation?
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7. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sect
Let’s talk nonprofit…
• As of 2008, there were over 1.5 million nonprofit entities registered
with the Internal Revenue Service.
• In 2009, over 26.8 % of adults stated they volunteered through an
organization.
• These organizations are supported annually by nearly $30 billion in
philanthropic support.
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8. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Triple Bottom Line = people, planet and profits
What is CSR?
Corporate Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that
an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to
benefit society at large. This responsibility can be passive, by avoiding
engaging in socially harmful acts, or active, by performing activities
that directly advance social goals.
What is your approach?
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9. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
What is capacity, performance and effectiveness?
• Capacity is another word for organizational capability and
competence.
• Performance is the achievement of measurable goals and objectives.
• Effectiveness is the organization’s ability to consistently perform in a
manner by which its actions have the desired impact on
constituents and society.
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10. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
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11. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
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12. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
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13. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Stage #1: Idea - No formal organization, only an idea or personal mandate to
fill a societal, programmatic, or cultural gap in the community.
Stage # 2: Start Up - The beginning stage of operations development marked by
mission, energy and passion but generally without corresponding
governance, management, resources or systems.
Stage #3: Growth - The stage in which nonprofit mission and programs have
taken hold in the marketplace, but where services demand exceeds
current structural and resource capabilities.
Stage #4: Maturity - The stage in which an organization is well-established,
operating smoothly, and has a community reputation for providing
consistently relevant and high quality services.
Stage #5: Decline - The stage in which the organization’s services are no longer
relevant to the marketplace and declining program consensus creates
insufficient operating income to cover expenses.
Stage #6: Turnaround - The stage in which an organization facing a
critical juncture due to lost market share and revenues, takes decisive
action to reverse prior actions in a self-aware, determined manner.
Stage #7: Terminal - The stage when an organization had neither the will,
purpose nor energy to continue to exist.
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14. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
How are my services a good match for my client’s needs and
expectations?
Should I include a Triple Bottom Line approach to my work?
How will be successful in order to ignite my Corporate Social
Responsibility?
How will you pursue your CSR?
What will it look like?
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15. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Examples:
A philanthropic approach
- De Puerta a Puerta Program
- Dialogues on Immigrant Integration
- Bilingual Mediation Program
A competitive advantage
- Sliding scale pricing structure
- Crowd sourcing model
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16. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
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17. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
by Well Translated LLC

18. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
by Well Translated LLC

19. DOING GREAT BY DOING GOOD:
Translating and Interpreting for the Nonprofit Sector
Have you defined your client?
Have you aligned your passion for a cause, your knowledge and skills
with the nonprofit sector’s needs? Is it a good match based on
your education, training, and interests?
I think REAL success in the translation/interpretation industry
happens when you combine all of the above.
THANK YOU!
by Well Translated LLC