We tend to put businesses and nonprofits in separate boxes: one chases profits, while the other pursues a mission. But what if these boxes are in fact holding back both types of organizations? What if a business could grow faster by borrowing ideas from charities, and a nonprofit could help more people by thinking like a startup?

I discovered this firsthand by running two very different organizations at once. Sheba Consulting is a business that helps other businesses grow, and Operation Israel is a nonprofit that provides life-saving equipment to IDF soldiers. At first, it felt like living in two different worlds, but the more I worked in both the more I realized something surprising — when you look past the surface, successful organizations often face the same challenges and require similar solutions.

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This isn’t just theory. I’ve watched business strategies transform how we deliver humanitarian aid, and I’ve seen nonprofit approaches revolutionize how my clients’ companies grow. Several key areas stand out where businesses and nonprofits can learn from each other in taking action and showing impact, in logistics and in partnerships. Understanding this can change how we think about what makes organizations truly successful — and it has nothing to do with whether they’re trying to make money or make a difference.

Spotting the gap and stepping in

While many businesses get caught in analysis paralysis, the nonprofit world offers powerful lessons in decisive action. When Oct. 7 struck, for example, Operation Israel didn’t waste time crafting perfect strategies or running endless scenarios. We launched within 24 hours — because that’s what the moment demanded. 

This was a pattern observable far beyond our organization. In the wake of Oct. 7, countless nonprofits (as well as communities and individuals) quickly raised money and created new programs to meet new needs, demonstrating the powerful ability of the sector to take fast and agile action. Hundreds of volunteers flew to Israel as well. It was a monumental moment forever etched in the minds of both participants and those they helped. 

This immediate action wasn’t reckless; it was responsive. While businesses often fear moving without complete information or perfect systems, we embraced a truth that crisis response organizations have long known: speed itself can be a form of excellence. Our first deliveries of critical equipment weren’t backed by elaborate infrastructure or detailed five-year plans. They were powered by an acute understanding that sometimes imperfect action beats perfect planning.

Show, don’t ask

Conversations about resources often miss the point that it’s not just about having capital — it’s about earning the right to deploy it. Both sectors face this fundamental challenge, though it manifests differently: A business must prove it can transform investment into sustainable value, while a nonprofit must demonstrate it can convert donor support into meaningful impact. Yet beneath these surface differences lies a shared imperative to turn potential into reality.

Nonprofits have mastered the art of showing future impact through storytelling. When Operation Israel shares stories of soldiers whose lives have been saved thanks to receiving equipment from us, we’re not just documenting past successes — we’re demonstrating what’s possible. Businesses can learn from this approach. When clients showcase their transformations, they shouldn’t just celebrate victories but demonstrate their capacity to repeat them. The most successful organizations in both sectors understand this nonprofit wisdom: You don’t earn support by selling what you need, but by proving what you can achieve with it.

The invisible system

The myth of organizational success lies in believing that inspiration alone drives impact. The reality is more complex: Behind every breakthrough moment is a choreography of systems, processes and decision frameworks. What separates enduring impact from temporary success isn’t the strength of the mission but rather the sophistication of the machine built to deliver it.

This is where conventional wisdom falls short. Organizations often look inward for solutions, trusting their intimate knowledge of their challenges, but the most profound operational insights often come from outside your sector entirely. The military’s supply chain innovations can transform a business’s efficiency, and a tech company’s user feedback systems can revolutionize humanitarian aid delivery. The organizations that scale successfully are those who understand that operational architecture is a universal language, transcending the boundaries between profit and purpose.

Partnering to build

While businesses obsess over owning every piece of their operation, the nonprofit world offers a revolutionary insight: the fastest path to growth is often through collaboration. In the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, we were flooded with urgent requests from soldiers who desperately needed equipment. While working to establish our own 501(c)3 status, we couldn’t wait to start helping. We temporarily partnered with an established nonprofit’s infrastructure and used a local business’s warehouse as our distribution hub. Today, Operation Israel is its own 501(c)3, but those early partnerships proved that sometimes the fastest path to impact is through collaboration rather than building everything from scratch.

At Sheba Consulting, we saw this principle transform a client’s strategy: Rather than spending six months building their own solution, they partnered with an industry expert to launch within weeks. Their competitors became collaborators, turning potential delays into immediate market impact. For businesses, this challenges a fundamental assumption that success comes from controlling every aspect of your operation. The nonprofit world shows us something different: When you focus on impact over ownership, partnerships become a source of speed and scale, not vulnerability.

These successful crossovers of practices from the nonprofit to the business world and vice versa demonstrate that the most powerful innovations often emerge when we dare to cross traditional boundaries. The future belongs not to those who perfect old models but to those who recognize that every sector holds untapped wisdom. Whether you’re scaling a humanitarian mission or building a business empire, the greatest breakthroughs often come from asking: What if we looked for answers in unexpected places? 

Adi Vaxman is the founder and president of Operation Israel, an all-volunteer nonprofit that has raised over $10 million to provide life-saving equipment to IDF soldiers since Oct. 7, 2023. She is also the CEO of Sheba Consulting, advising Fortune 500 companies and global organizations on operational efficiency and strategic growth for over 15 years.