Mission Meets Market
If you lead a mission-driven organization in education, you're already feeling the pressure: more need, fewer unrestricted dollars, and growing demand for sustainable solutions.
Mission Meets Market shows you how to meet the moment, without selling out your mission.
This isn't just another business book dressed up for nonprofits. It's a tailor-made playbook for education leaders who are navigating the unique challenges of funding, equity, and impact in classrooms, communities, and beyond.
Introducing the MissionMarket Model - a 10-step framework designed specifically for education nonprofits to transform scattered sales efforts into strategic, mission-aligned revenue engines. From understanding your sector to scaling sustainably, this proven roadmap helps you build financial resilience while deepening your impact.
Packed with frameworks, examples, and hard-won lessons from the field, this playbook gives you the tools to build financial resilience in a sector that needs it now more than ever.
You've got the mission. This book offers the model. It's time to not just survive, but sustain and scale your education mission.
Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1. Understanding the Education Sector
- 2. Your Theory of Change
- 3. Understanding Your Customers
- 4. Defining Your Value Proposition
- 5. Developing Your Revenue Model
- 6. Finding Your People
- 7. Making the Sale
- 8. Pricing and Financial Sustainability
- 9. Scaling and Operationalizing Earned Revenue
- 10. Mixed Funding Models
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- Acknowledgments
MAKE IT ACTIONABLE
MISSION MEETS MARKET
Sustainability Toolkit
Get the resources that gives mission-driven organizations practical tools to put the ideas from Mission Meets Market into action.
The Toolkit expands on the book with guided exercises, worksheets, and templates that help you create a customized Sustainability Plan. Inside, you’ll find tools to clarify your value proposition, map your revenue model, strengthen your sales process, set prices with confidence, and integrate philanthropy into a mixed funding approach.
You can work through the Toolkit step by step or use the modules that match your most urgent needs. Each one includes practical guidance and ready-to-use templates so you can move directly from ideas to action.
We suggest beginning with the Revenue Model Health Check (Module 5), a quick way to see the strengths and risks in your current funding approach. From there, you can build out the rest of your Sustainability Plan with confidence.
What’s Inside the Toolkit
Practical Frameworks
Guided exercises and step-by-step modules
Tools for defining value proposition, revenue models, and pricing
Ready-to-Use Templates
Worksheets for customer segmentation, sustainability planning, and sales process
Fillable formats to create a customized Sustainability Plan
Diagnostic & Planning Tools
Revenue Model Health Check to evaluate strengths and risks
Planning templates for marketing, scaling, and integrating philanthropy
For more comprehensive support, organizations should consider engaging EdSolutions as a thought partner.
MAKE IT ACTIONABLE
MISSION MEETS MARKET
Sustainability Toolkit
Get the resources that gives mission-driven organizations practical tools to put the ideas from Mission Meets Market into action.
The Toolkit expands on the book with guided exercises, worksheets, and templates that help you create a customized Sustainability Plan. Inside, you’ll find tools to clarify your value proposition, map your revenue model, strengthen your sales process, set prices with confidence, and integrate philanthropy into a mixed funding approach.
You can work through the Toolkit step by step or use the modules that match your most urgent needs. Each one includes practical guidance and ready-to-use templates so you can move directly from ideas to action.
We suggest beginning with the Revenue Model Health Check (Module 5), a quick way to see the strengths and risks in your current funding approach. From there, you can build out the rest of your Sustainability Plan with confidence.
What’s Inside the Toolkit
Practical Frameworks
Guided exercises and step-by-step modules
Tools for defining value proposition, revenue models, and pricing
Ready-to-Use Templates
Worksheets for customer segmentation, sustainability planning, and sales process
Fillable formats to create a customized Sustainability Plan
Diagnostic & Planning Tools
Revenue Model Health Check to evaluate strengths and risks
Planning templates for marketing, scaling, and integrating philanthropy
For more comprehensive support, organizations should consider engaging EdSolutions as a thought partner.
Get a Preview of the Book
Before you commit, dive into the introduction and first chapter of Mission Meets Market.
Download The Book Preview
CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE EDUCATION SECTOR
How K–12 Markets (and Beyond) Really Work
Your program works. Teachers love it. Students thrive. So why does growth stall?
The first chapter uncovers the hidden rules of the education market who actually makes decisions, how funding really flows, and why timing matters more than features.
It’s the clarity every nonprofit leader needs before scaling. But this is just the beginning.
Chapter 2: Your Theory of Change
The Foundation of Organizational Stability
Revenue should serve your mission, not steer it.
This chapter helps you get clear on your “why” and turn it into a practical theory of change the roadmap that connects your work to measurable outcomes and sustainable growth.
It’s the foundation for every sales and revenue strategy that follows.
Meet the Author
Jay Bakhru is a founding partner at EdSolutions, where he helps education nonprofits and mission-driven organizations grow their impact through strategy and innovation. A former teacher turned executive, Jay brings experience from across the education and business sectors, with a deep commitment to improving outcomes for underserved students.
Jay has led a diverse portfolio of client engagements, helping organizations clarify their positioning, craft messaging and sales strategies, and build market-informed strategies. He’s known for his collaborative approach and his ability to synthesize complexity into clear, actionable insights.
Jay began his career as a middle school English teacher and holds degrees from Brown University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Teachers College at Columbia University.