What would Juliette think about NMK?

You may have heard of NKF, or Newmark Knight Frank, the firm that helped GSHH put together their real estate plan.  Newmark (they dropped the Knight Frank in 2020) is a commercial real estate services firm owned by a large wholesale brokerage firm.

What does this mean?

Newmark is a business that helps other businesses make more money (or stop losing money) by buying, selling, or managing properties.  Businesses pay Newmark money (a lot of money) to help themselves make even MORE money.

Is that bad?

Not at all! Businesses exist to make money by providing something of value to their customers. 

However, Girl Scouts does not follow this model.  Girl Scouts are a nonprofit, not a business.  The goal of a nonprofit (also called a not-for-profit) is to serve a mission, usually to a local community.  They sometimes make a little bit of money, but usually it’s not enough to cover all the expenses of serving the mission.  A nonprofit makes up the difference by getting money from the government (called grants) or donations from generous people that believe in the organization’s mission.

Girl Scout’s mission: “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.”  This is why the Girl Scouts exist – to serve this mission.

So, why did GSHH hire Newmark?

GSHH had a lot of properties, and they weren’t able to take very good care of all of them at the same time.  It’s like if you have too many toys, it’s hard to keep your room clean.  If you have only a few toys, you can take better care of them and keep your room organized.

But, Newmark isn’t a nonprofit.  They don’t follow the Girl Scout mission.  They want to make money, and want to help the Girl Scouts make money too.  This means that Newmark can’t give GSHH the best advice about the properties.  Maybe Newmark will recommend GSHH sell more properties than they should.  What if less girls have access to Girl Scouting?  That would be a loss for the mission, and for all of us.