05-21-2026
It’s easy to forget that nonprofits are as business-driven as they are heart-driven. In his recent Daniels School Executive Forum appearance, Jason McManus, CEO of Wabash Center, showed how both must be balanced. If a nonprofit doesn’t respect the numbers — of human resources, dollars and needs — the mission cannot be sustained.
“No margin, no mission,” McManus said. “One of the things I really have been working hard at is helping people understand that we are a service organization, but you have to run it like a business, because if you don't run it like a business, you won't have the resources that you need to reach more people.”
Wabash Center serves about 1,000 individuals with disabilities and their families, employing roughly 500 staff across multiple locations in Greater Lafayette and a satellite in Crown Point, Indiana. It delivers a full continuum of services — from early childhood intervention to employment supports, residential services and end-of-life care — making it operationally closer to a diversified service enterprise than a small charity.
With a wide array of stakeholders — a community board, families and government funders — Wabash Center constantly faces mission pressures. McManus’ team guards their focus by allowing the needs of the people they serve to drive decisions. They’re watching key trends: people with disabilities are living longer, behavioral needs taper while medical complexity rises, and traditional hospice models can leave long-time clients surrounded by strangers in their final weeks. Wabash Center is exploring how to extend its continuum so that individuals can end life supported by people who truly know them.
Financially, the organization operates in a constrained Medicaid landscape, where rate pressures, eligibility limits and waiting lists are very real. Medicaid rarely covers the full cost of services, so Wabash must consistently fundraise to close the gap.
The business side is also a talent strategy challenge. In a sector where 40% annual turnover is common, Wabash has intentionally raised wages for direct support professionals and created a career academy that offers extra training and higher pay for those who commit to the role.
McManus speaks of dignifying the people Wabash serves, including giving them the right to integrate into society in work, education and living conditions. Wabash helps 150-200 individuals per year gain community-integrated employment and is building micro-enterprises that blend mission and margin. A coffee shop at its headquarters, staffed entirely by people with disabilities, was designed to incubate one client’s dream of owning a coffee business, while employing others. A partnership with a local florist trains clients in floral design; Wabash participants now prepare arrangements for Purdue events and deliver Valentine’s Day orders. If he had unlimited resources, McManus says he’d pour them into expanding employment and enterprise initiatives like these.
Watch the full Forum talk, where McManus unpacks how nonprofit enterprises, with their different bottom lines, still prize messaging and financial stewardship to make a social impact. McManus’ perspective invites business professionals to consider the challenge and satisfaction of taking roles and directing their business acumen to enhance the nonprofit world.
The Daniels School’s Executive Forum is held in person on the West Lafayette campus during the academic year and is open to the public, as seating permits. Watch past speakers on the Executive Forum podcast.
