How Nonprofits Are Venturing

Shopping for a better idea on how to sustain your economic development organization's finances? This article might help.

Many of the country’s most innovative nonprofit leaders are transforming their organizations by creating new, unrestricted sources of funding. Through business ventures, cause-related marketing partnerships, and licensing agreements, nonprofits are generating revenue to support their services and grow to scale.

This new kind of wealth can be called community wealth because it is reinvested into the communities that nonprofits serve.

Creating community wealth is not right for every nonprofit, but it is right for more than are doing it now. Often the biggest stumbling block is cultural: a reluctance to engage in commerce that ranges from lack of interest to suspicion and downright disdain. One of the most frequently asked questions is “Are we at risk of selling out our values and losing our soul if we begin to engage in commerce?”

Some nonprofit leaders don’t have the appetite or inclination to create business ventures. Or, they may not have the skills or the capital to launch wealth-generating
ventures on their own.

This report is worthwhile reading for economic developers. There are lessons in it that can strengthen the EDO financial base and many other aspects of the organization.

Download it here.