Nonprofit Organizations Don't Need More Money To Build Amazing Communities

Introducing a Model for Community-Driven Sustainability^TM

It's not money that stops our organizations from creating real community impact.

It's how we think about

money

sustainability

competition

collaboration

community

fundraising

support

relationships

organizational survival

If our community organizations are to make significant improvement to the quality of life in our communities, we need to change our thinking.

We need to adopt a mindset that frees us from our fears about money, and frees us to consider providing as much benefit to our communities as possible. Because when we're worried about money in the short term, we cannot begin to aim at community impact for the long term.

Community-Driven SustainabilityTM is not about having enough money, because money isn't the goal of a nonprofit organization. Community-Driven Sustainability means:

The community doesn't have to worry that funding cuts will eliminate the services they have come to rely on.

The community can count on your organization to continue to do the important work you do - not just providing your current services this year and next year, but the future you aim to create for that community 20 and 50 years from now.

Realizing that we aren't in this fight alone - that we are part of something bigger - a community that will support our work more, the more we include them in our family.

Community-Driven Sustainability^TM - The Core Concept

No man is an island unto himself. John Donne said that, and much as modern society likes to see the individual as more important than the collective good, reality shows us that the individual who is most content is the one who has a healthy give and take in his family life, in his spiritual life, in his community.

The same holds true for our organizations. The organizations that will survive to participate in creating the future of our communities are those who see themselves as part of something bigger than just themselves. Those who stop believing they are competing for scarce resources, and start seeing boundless potential in the communities they are part of. Those who work for the good of the community when times are good, and work harder for the good of the community when times are bad.

If Community-Driven Sustainability doesn't have to do with money, then what DOES it have to do with?

Community-Driven Sustainability means aiming for long term viability and health at all levels of the organization - not just your bank account. And the only way to do that is to use a whole new way of seeing how our organizations fit into our communities and our world.

Community-Driven Sustainability^TM means re-thinking how we plan for our programs, develop those programs, run those programs and yes, how we raise funds for those programs, based on the interrelationships between our organizations and the communities we serve.

Community-Driven Sustainability^TM is for organizations ready to move to the next level and beyond - to tackle the big task of making their community a better place to live, rather than simply focusing on organizational survival.

Community-Driven Sustainability^TM aims at generating renewable resources rather than one-time income, to ensure that base level expenses are never in jeopardy - that your organization is never in the position of worrying about whether or not you can keep the doors open.

Community-Driven Sustainability^TMtakes mission decisions out of the hands of funders and puts those decisions back where they belong - with the board and staff who care about what the community needs now, and what the community aims to be in the future

Community-Driven Sustainability^TM spreads your organization's roots throughout the whole community, integrating the community so deeply into the organization's vision, mission and daily work, that the community would never allow your organization to go out of business for lack of funds.

To build programs our communities can count on, we need to place our short term survival and our long term sustainability within the context of providing significant improvement to quality of life in our communities. Article: The Model Training Programs: Building & Sustaining Programs in Tough Economic Times Tools, Resources, Books