Starting a non-profit begins with romance. It’s crucial we always remember those days.

In 1994 I was working with the United Jewish Appeal of Toronto. That year genocide broke out in Rwanda, which lasted 100 days and devastated the country. Estimates are that 1 million people were murdered, many machete to death in that short three month period. I, like the rest of the world, was devastated.

I had grown up in the Jewish community. My father was a Rabbi in a small city called Kitchener and in my genes, was a passion for the Jewish people and the belief that what lied at our essence was the concept of ‘Loving thy neighbor….’, that when others are suffering we would respond to their needs.

I was the generation born into this world following the Holocaust, and grew up on the adage ‘Never Again’ - the idea that we, the Jewish people, had suffered in the world and would not allow others to go through the pain we had experienced.

So when ‘Rwanda’ happened, and the Jewish world was mostly silent I was disappointed and saddened. I approached my bosses and said we should co-ordinate a pharmaceutical drive for the Rwandan refugees who had poured into surrounding countries. To their credit, they said, “Yes, by all means.”

It was then my dream of launching Canada’s first Jewish humanitarian and relief organization - Ve’ahavta - was born.

Like romance, there is something magical about the genesis of one’s non-profit career. Those are the days when we are idealistic in a starry eyed way, and our objectives and mission statements are to the point - ‘save the world’, or ‘eradicate malaria’ or ‘stop hunger in Israel’. Indeed those are special moments, not yet evolved into a lifestyle.

This is the first installment in a series of posts dealing with starting a non-profit and what to do once the phones have started to ring and people are asking you for the service you have always dreamed of giving. As the founding directors of Ve’ahavta, my first piece of advice to you very cool people (who are forsaking the other Jewish dream of practicing law) is: always hold onto your memories of those romantic beginnings.

I say this, and do so with great commitment, because the day will come when you will simply not know where you’ll get the funds to cover payroll. Those days make their way into the nights! The time will come when you will be called upon to make a most difficult decision like letting go a staff member. A text message will sit in your inbox from a colleague working in the field asking you to make an ethical decision, sometimes dealing with life and death…. and you’ll stutter for a second, and then do your best to respond hoping your call, was the right one.

The tough, roll-up-your-sleeves, slug-it-out instants will become part of your daily to do list, and it is exactly in those times when you need to recall the romance, meditate on why you started your non-profit, and remember that it was for beautiful, pure reasons - with the hope and dream of enhancing the lives of others.

I am grateful for having the opportunity to launch Ve’ahavta. (I live in a country that makes a start-up NGO very possible. In Canada there are over 150,000 non-profit organizations, about half of them are operational. The non-profit sector in Israel consists of 25,000 organizations that employ over 230,000 people, quite an impressive figure).

I am also very proud of the fact that I had a dream, listened to it, and then, like you, acted on it. Writing this, looking back at those romantic days, when Ve’ahavta and I walked hand-in-hand on the quiet beaches of Canada’s social service needs, I am softened and all the tough stuff I have dealt with sort of dissipates.

Those were beautiful days. These are different, but equally as beautiful. Well done to all of you for falling in love!

Avrum Rosensweig is the founding director of Ve’ahavta: The Canadian Jewish Humanitarian & Relief Committee, based in Toronto Canada. The organization was launched in 1996 and its mission statement is to encourage all Jews and human beings to play an active role in Tikun Olam. Ve’ahavta has partnered up with a number of Israeli NGOs in its crisis response work including IsraAid. See www.veahavta.org