How to Start a Nonprofit Charity

Catherine Rohr was a 27-year-old University of California graduate with a thriving career in venture capital when, at a reception in 2004, she heard an ex-convict speak about the successful construction business he started after leaving prison.

For Rohr, it was a life-changing moment. She realized former drug dealers and gang leaders had entrepreneurial skills: They knew how to manage people, make a profit and handle competition. Using her finance-world connections, she could recruit CEOs to teach ex-convicts to use those skills to start legitimate businesses.

That same year, Rohr started Prison Entrepreneurship Program, and today, it has a $700,000 budget funded primarily with donations from CEOs and foundations. Nearly 100% of the 250 convicts that have participated in PEP are employed on release. Less than 5% of participants have returned to prison.

Rohr hopes to eventually see her program expand to prisons nationwide. "This is the hardest I've ever worked in my life," she says. "But I can't imagine going back to having my goal just be to make money. This is the most rewarding thing ever. I have a passion that won't die for these guys." ...