Building Competencies for Sustainability

@SpectrumSteve

Steve Zimmerman, Spectrum Nonprofit Services

COMMUNITY

A shift is necessaryA shift is necessary

30% reported achieving long term sustainability was a top challenge in Nebraska

“Is the nonprofit sector in permanent financial stress, or is this an entrenched message that we tell ourselves and each other?” Kate Barr,

Nonprofit Quarterly

A shift is necessary

Sustainability has been a top issue for 25 years

What is

Sustainability?

PROFITABILITY

Reimagining Sustainability

Financial Viability

Mission Impact

Financial sustainability (the ability to generate resources to meet the needs of the present without compromising the future)

and

Programmatic sustainability (the ability to develop, mature, and cycle out programs to be responsive to constituencies over time.)

- - Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability

Reimagining Sustainability

Sustainability encompasses both:

SUSTAINABILITY is a orientation, not a destination.

system-wide

“It is not a one-time thing, not an episodic thing, not a senior management thing or a board of directors thing. It’s really a mindset and way of organizational being.”

- - The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions

Embracing Change

Key Questions

What do your constituents need?

Key Questions

How do you define impact?

Key Questions

How does each of your programs contribute to impact?

MISSION IMPACT

Key Questions

What are the true costs of your programs?

Specific Program Costs

Shared Costs

Administrative Costs

Key Questions

Who else is serving in your space?

Key Questions

Have you fully invested in your success?

Produce a modest surplus.

A reliable source of unrestricted support.

Largest sources of income paying for work that you deem essential to your impact.

Relying on a funding stream that is aligned with your organizational values.

Right Revenue

What do your constituents need?

How do you define impact?

How does each of your programs contribute to impact?

What are the true costs of your programs?

Who else is serving in your space?

Have you fully invested in your success?

Key Questions

Matrix Map Overview

What we do (bubbles)

Mix of mission-specific (blue) and fund development programs (green)(color of bubbles)

Where we are investing our resources (size of bubbles)

The net financial results of each activity (horizontal axis)

Relative mission impact of each activity (vertical axis)

Financial Viability

Mission Impact

Leadership

Mission Impact

Financial Viability

Relationship Management

Candor and Rigor

Strategic Agility

What’s Next

Characteristics of Leadership

Relationship Management

Candor and Rigor

Strategic Agility

What’s Next

Characteristics of Leadership

Relationship Management

Candor and Rigor

Strategic Agility

What’s Next

Characteristics of Leadership

Relationship Management

Candor and Rigor

Strategic Agility

What’s Next

Characteristics of Leadership

Strategy is Ongoing

Strategy is Ongoing

Leadership

Mission Impact

Financial Viability

If they’re involved they will create a future that already has them in it.

- Margaret J. Wheatley

Steve Zimmermanstevez@spectrumnonprofit.comwww.spectrumnonprofit.com414.226.2322