Mr Gilmour spoke recently to the Otago-Southland branch of the Institute of Directors in Wanaka about the need for charities to think ‘‘strategically''.
Thirteen years ago, Mr Gilmour brought the 'I Have a Dream' programme, a charitable franchise which aims to help children from low-income communities reach educational goals by providing a 15-year mentoring programme, home to NZ.
The programme started off by focusing on 53 pupils from Auckland's Wesley Primary School.
A total of 80% of the pupils from the programme went on to attend university and now 1500 children from primary schools across Whangarei have started the programme.
Mr Gilmour said the first group of children had not been a big enough sample size for Treasury to base government policy on.
However, he hoped the Whangarei programme would show the Government the cycle of poverty could be stopped.
Before the event, Mr Gilmour told the Otago Daily Times it was crucial to speak to business leaders about the ‘‘intersections'' between the non-profit and profit world.
‘‘A lot of charities focus on serving people, saving the community, saving the environment and don't perhaps pay enough attention to the economics of it all.''
Former Auckland City Missioner Dame Diane Robertson had been so successful in her role because she had run the mission as a business, he said.
After working for IT company Intel in the United States, Mr Gilmour was attracted to the programme because of its business approach.
‘‘There are two manuals on how to run the programme.
‘‘If you follow the model then all these kids on the programme will actually make money and society will benefit because you will stop the cycle of poverty in that family forever and that is hugely beneficial to all of us.''
Mr Gilmour urged not-for-profit leaders to ‘‘have good staff recruitment, training and retention plans''.
Institute of Directors Distinguished Fellow John Gilks said Mr Gilmour's message was an important one.
"I have been involved in not-for-profits and I have seen it first hand.
‘‘While they are not-for-profit it doesn't mean that they should have any different approach in terms of their governance and the guidelines that they operate under.''
About 30 people attended the talk.
- by Margot Taylor
