The Sustainable Nonprofit May 14, 2007

Last time I posted about excessive compensation in large (and some not so large) nonprofits. On my mind this morning is inadequate compensation and what sustainability means for smaller nonprofits.

So a few questions, starting with your personal sustainability:

• Is your pay market rate, and can you pay the bills with it?
• Do you have adequate health insurance?
• Are you developing your professional skills?

Next are questions about your organization itself:

• How will your nonprofit continue in perpetuity?
• Do you have a disaster plan?
• What happens when you fall short in your fundraising?
• Does any one donor or grantor provide more than 20% of your funding?
• What negative impact do you have on the community, environment, employees?
• What positive impact do you have?

The one question that turns heads when I talk about this is about negative impact. In starting and running our nonprofits, we allow ourselves to think our mission is noble, and compromise other things like personal health and wealth, and the good of the community in favor of that. But consider this: when you buy supplies from a national chain, only 11 cents of every dollar you spend stays local, but when you buy from local stores and businesses, 44 cents stays local. 4 to 1. 400% greater impact, just by buying local! Think of the irony of a job skills nonprofit that buys from Staples instead of the local office supply store, which could grow and provide more jobs with more local business.

Other negative impact is the energy you consume, both in daily operations and in the products you buy. How do you get to work? If you drive, can you carpool? When you buy organic food (and if it's local, you should), was it shipped from Bakersfield CA or from the farm up the road? Do you leave your monitor and computer on at night? What can you do to reduce your organization's negative impact on the environment?

To some of you some of this sounds simplistic. But so many nonprofits pass on using recycled paper, and chase the lowest price possible regardless of impact on their community, employees, and environment. I know it's tough with tight budgets, but that's where planning and fundraising to the plan come in; develop the socially responsible, sustainable plan, and then fund it. I think it's part of our responsibility to the world, regardless of the mission. Agree? Disagree?