Center for Social Innovation

Nonprofit leaders spend an enormous amount of time on fundraising, but many typically have little idea how to secure the money they will need over the next five years. At the same time, their vision for how the organization’s programs will evolve over the next five years is often sharp and clear. The rub is that a well-thought-out approach to raising revenue is essential to sustaining those programs and increasing their impact.

When they’re small, nonprofit organizations can often meet their budgets by inspiring a handful of donors, seizing unanticipated funding opportunities, or cobbling together a mixed bag of funding sources. Charismatic leaders are often the key to swaying prospective funders. But as nonprofits get bigger, personal relationships and catch-as-catch-can are rarely ... Read more