Nonprofit Sustainability

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In an environmental context, "sustainability" generally means finding a way to use resources in a manner that prevents their depletion. For charitable nonprofits, the phrase “sustainability” is commonly used to describe a nonprofit that is able to sustain itself over the long term, perpetuating its ability to fulfill its mission. Sustainability in the nonprofit context includes the concepts of financial sustainability, as well as leadership succession planning, adaptability, and strategic planning.

In order for a nonprofit to be sustainable, the nonprofit’s leaders need to know how much it costs to deliver the nonprofit’s programs and services, so that the nonprofit can raise enough money to cover those costs. When a nonprofit is always catching up, but never has enough resources to cover its costs AND invest in its own infrastructure, this has been dubbed “the nonprofit starvation cycle.”

Understand what it costs to deliver your nonprofit’s programs and services.
All about nonprofit resilience and financial sustainability, including why general operating support is important! (Grantmakers for Effective Organizations)
For nonprofits that provide services to governments: Read Investing for Impact: Indirect Costs are Essential for Success. (National Council of Nonprofits)
Nonprofits that are serious about their own sustainability will also be serious about leadership transitions and succession planning. Planning for leadership transition should take into consideration not only planned transitions but also unplanned ones -- whether for staff or board leaders -- and sustainability also means cross-training staff so that important day-to-day functions will continue uninterrupted.

For some organizations, finding a way to diversify income streams can be one avenue towards sustainability. For others, it’s putting a thoughtful succession plan in place. We offer suggestions for a variety of useful resources on nonprofit sustainability below.