1. Jon Pratt, Minnesota Coalition of Nonprofits
Reliability vs. Autonomy in Nonprofit Fundraising: A Guide to Finding the Right Balance
Jon Pratt, Minnesota Coalition of Nonprofits
Ruth McCambridge, Editor in Chief of the Nonprofit Quarterly
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2. Benefits of analyzing the dynamics of nonprofit funding
Identify key governance and management challenges
Understand advantages and tradeoffs among funding sources
Surface potential responses/strategies/skills needed
Compare to counterparts in the same field and community
Increase situational awareness

3. Revenue as Destiny: Archetypes
Revenue types
Program fees from private sources
Federal government/state and local governments
Individual contributions
Foundation grants
Corporate contributions
Third-party payments
Interest, dividends and sale of assets
Money magically appearing

12. Dynamics of funding
Reliability
Autonomy

13. Revenue Reliability The ability to be relied on or depended on
To what extent can an organization predict its revenues and make decisions year to year for budgeting, staffing and program planning?

14. Revenue Autonomy
Independent or freedom of one’s actions; the condition of being autonomous; self-government, self-determination
To what extent are the organization’s revenues free from conditions set by funding sources that would limit its programmatic decisions?

18. Reliability/Autonomy Matrix

20. Responses to low reliability
Close tracking of income & expenses
Quick budget adjustments
Low fixed costs
Stockpiling (budget reserves)
Outsourcing
Diversification (of revenue types, number of sources, activity areas)

21. Responses to low autonomy
Negotiation skills and strategies to reduce conditions attached to funding
Investment in alternative funding sources with greater autonomy
Selective applications/gift acceptance policy to screen out undesirable funding
Diversification to reduce proportion of funds that are low autonomy
Accept fate of a subcontractor (serenity prayer; to accept the things I cannot change)

22. Revenue as Destiny: Archetypes
Revenue types
Program fees from private sources
Third-party payments
Individual payors
Federal government/state and local governments
Individual contributions
Foundation grants
Corporate contributions
Interest, dividends and sale of assets

23. Uses of the reliability/autonomy framework
Board education
Long-range financial planning and strategy
Negotiations with funding sources
Government relations
Educating internal audiences ( including staff)
Community relations and public education about the organization and its constraints

24. Resources Analyzing the Dynamics of Funding: Reliability and Autonomy
Nonprofit Autonomy/Reliability Matrix (Spreadsheet)
NPQ’s Illustrated Nonprofit Economy (2nd Edition) by Jon Pratt
Financial Strategy Tools: Cohort Analysis

25. Thank you for joining us
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