The Nonprofit Incubator

strategies can be a challenge. For this reason, different financial goals must be
set for different revenue streams and each must be managed in a different way.
3. Development of An Explicit Nonprofit Business Model. Strategic business
decisions can’t be made without an existing business model. For this reason,
every nonprofit needs to develop a viable business strategy that brings together
all of the organization’s activities under the umbrella of the organization’s
mission. In the nonprofit world, programmatic impact strategies will be a
significant part of the business model. But each activity should be associated not
only with an impact strategy but also a revenue strategy. Thus, the sustainable
nonprofit has a “dual bottom-line” – impact and financial return.
4. Continuous Decision-Making. Today’s nonprofits face unprecedented
challenges. Evaluation, assessment and continuous decision-making are
necessary for survival and success when change is constant.
You should also keep in mind that succession planning is also a critical aspect of
sustainability because it ensures that staff, leadership and board members don’t take
critical knowledge and relationships with them when they leave.
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What Nonprofit Functions Are [Typically]
Most In Need of Strengthening?
Nonprofits are typically organized into
major functional areas, such as:
central administration, governance,
and programming. To be sustainable
over the long term, each functional
area must operate efficiently and
effectively and take its place as part of
the whole.
The problem arises when cutbacks,
programmatic shifts, changing funder
and donor needs and the like, take the
stage. In such cases, resourcestrapped
nonprofits are stretched too
thin. As a result, less essential
functions may become neglected and
begin to weaken.
This, in turn, affects the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission.
According to a recent study by the Weingart Foundation, today’s nonprofits identify the
following functions as most in need of attention:
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