TELACU
During the 1960s, East Los Angeles underwent economic hardship. David Lazarraga (www.telacu.com), who was born and raised there, was compelled to improve the circumstances of its residents. At the time, he was working as the Community Resource Leader at the East Los Angeles Community Union, or TELACU. When its founder Esteban Torres was elected to Congress, David became the president of the nonprofit group. However, he needed to enhance the organization’s financial capability before he could create a significant impact on the community. David sought to make the TELACU self-sufficient by leveraging federal grants with private funds and debt from banks. He then used his resources to invest in housing and other real estate projects in the East Los Angeles area. David’s plan was a success and soon he was able to partake in other ventures. He opened a community bank to lend to local business owners and established an education foundation. Currently, TELACU owns $400 million in assets and invests 20% of its profits into social services.

ARTWALLAH
Sarita Vasa (www.artwallah.org) was an undergraduate student at UCLA when she obtained an internship position at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. While working there, she became inspired to create an expressive medium for South Asians. Upon her graduation, Sarita founded a nonprofit center called ARTWALLAH. The name was derived from the words "art" and "wallah," which means someone who creates. Through her organization she was able showcase South Asian art and culture with events like the ArtWallah Festival. Sarita’s work was well received and her business grew exponentially, eventually reaching $200,000 in 2005. In the future, she wants to continue developing ArtWallah. Sarita has taken a step in realizing her vision by hiring Linsey Schade and Ashwini Srikantiah, who serve as the executive and artistic directors, respectively. She and her team are working to increase ArtWallah’s budget to over $500,000 in the next five years.

In Secrets of Success, the author of Cracking the Millionaire Code, Mark Victor Hansen (www.markvictorhansen.com), talks about the value in philanthropy in a business.

Studio Guest is President and CEO of Nehemiah Corporation of America, Scott Syphax (www.nehemiahcorp.org; 877-231-0999;), who discusses why nonprofit organizations need to make profit.