3 thoughts from Azavea’s Robert Cheetham on starting a nonprofit arm

Azavea, a Callowhill-based mapping company, is toying with the idea of moving projects like its Summer of Maps fellowship — which just yielded some cool data vizualizations for nonprofits — and other philanthropic activities into a new nonprofit division.
Our sister site Generocity spoke with CEO Robert Cheetham on the challenges of starting, and sustaining, a nonprofit arm within a for-profit company. Cheetham mentioned a crowded nonprofit space, and management and fundraising challenges as his primary concerns.

A decision is not imminent, Cheetham said, but the conversation has been getting a little more serious every year. The founder said Azavea “might go another year” before making a decision.