Training your grantees to become financially sustainable may be the best investment you can make. The alternative of continuing to fund them year after year not only ties up more capital, but makes your grantees even more dependent on your generosity.

Our Sustainability Series focuses on the transformational process used to move organizations from a charity mindset to one of sustainable investment. This strategy has been used successfully in over 300 nonprofits across the country, and requires moving beyond outcomes to actually demonstrating the value of the outcomes to those you are asking to invest in your organization. These sessions introduce the Organizational Value Proposition® concept as a tool for strategic planning, program development, and fundraising. Participants will work through the process of developing a finished Sustainability Plan, complete with individual assistance, that specifically addresses the unique challenges that face their respective organizations.

Participants will leave the sessions knowing:

  • How to Move From A "Tin Cup" To An Investment-Based Organization.
  • Why strategic plans and business plans often fall short on the single most important part: FUNDING!
  • Why emotional appeals are becoming less effective in today's funding environment, and why sustainable organizations of the future must adopt a more value-based culture.
  • How to develop investable outcomes: translating specific outcomes into specific benefits for different stakeholder and investor groups.
  • How to implement an ROI-based program using a 5 step approach. The components to consider when developing an effective and compelling Organizational Value Proposition®.
  • How to write an effective Sustainability Plan that makes investors take notice.
  • How to implement a Sustainability Plan and not make it just another document that sits on a shelf.

Example Sustainability Planning Schedule
Small Group Action Plan
Time Frame:
Outcome:
# of Participants:
Schedule:
3 months
A working Sustainability Plan for each grantee
5 to 15
2 days of interactive sessions
2 months of individual assistance
2 days of interactive sessions

Introductory Sessions

Day 1 - Doing the Dirt Work - Building the Foundation for Sustainability

Day 2 - Demonstrate Your ROI

Individual Assistance

On-site assistance with specific challenges facing the organization in writing their Sustainability Plan

Implementation Sessions (approximately 2 months later)

Day 1 - Polishing, Transforming, Testing the Plan

Day 2 - Putting it All Together: Moving Toward Sustainability