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The National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is a 
billion dollar organization, yet it’s an important model for nonprofits. NGS has used fresh, compelling content to infect ordinary, intelligent people with a sense of wonder about the world. The alchemy of content keeps it at the centre of a vibrant community. Its range of knowledge products does the work of allowing explorers – real or imaginary – to see and understand the world. What started as a clubby Washington discussion group is now accessible to nine million magazine readers., 1.1 million children reading National Geographic Kids, and hundreds of millions of television viewers and web site visitors.
It’s mission to establish geographic literacy remains altruistic, but its ability to maintain its identity ensures it can recruit successive generations of members. AOL’s founder Steve Case, now a venture philanthropist, clearly admires the national Geographic Society’s tradition of leveraging its research. He told the New York Times in November 2006 that its success at sustaining itself through sales of knowledge products means the Society “doesn’t have to focus on collecting money or holding black-tie balls to raise money because its sales are sustaining its mission of educating the world about the world.”
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