Generating and Sustaining Nonprofit Earned Income

A Guide to Successful Enterprise Strategies

Sharon M. Oster (Editor), Cynthia W. Massarsky (Editor), Samantha L. Beinhacker (Editor), Bill Bradley (Foreword by)

Hardcover, 352 pages, April 2004, Jossey-Bass

In collaboration with the Yale School of Management-The Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures, this comprehensive guide identifies best practices for generating a reliable income stream and ultimately reducing nonprofit organizations' dependence on traditional sources of funding. Edited by renowned scholar and consultant Sharon Oster and Cynthia Massarsky and Samantha Beinhacker, deputy directors of The Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures, this book will teach readers sound business planning strategies that can significantly benefit their organization's internal capacity and financial health.

Description of chapter 14, Real World Challenges of Implementation, by Kim Alter

The reward for the hard work of developing a business plan is the even harder work of implementing it. A new venture can quickly demonstrate that reality rarely reflects expectations. Contingency planning should have prepared you for surprises, but the cold reality of a silent phone or an empty store can shake even the most confident among us. Or maybe your immediate success exceeded your expectations... and your capacity or capital. When implementing a business plan always "expect the unexpected" and "have a plan B, C and D."

Chapter 14 discusses tools and strategies to maintain the agility, flexibility and confidence required to implement a living document-the business plan-in a dynamic environment.

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Table of Contents:

Part I: Key Issues in Business Planning for Nonprofit Enterprise.

Putting Nonprofit Business Ventures in Perspective (J. Gregory Dees)

Building Organizational Capacity (Paul Connolly)

Leadership Strategies for Managing a Nonprofit Enterprise (Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld and Maxwell L. Anderson)

Targeting the Market and Developing a Marketing Plan (Christopher Lovelock)

Pricing Goods and Services (Sharon M. Oster)

Legal and Tax Considerations (William H. Heritage Jr. and Timothy J. Orlebeke)

Nonprofit Ventures and Governance Issues (Katherine M. O'Regan)

Part II: Finding and Attracting Capital.

Securing Financial Capital (David Bornstein and The Goldman Sachs Foundation)

Pitching Your Venture (Amy Solas and Adam M. Blumenthal)

Forming Strategic Alliances (Richard Steckel)

Growing Your Business with a High-Engagement Funder (Kristin Majeska)

Supporting Nonprofit Enterprise in Emerging Markets (Lee Davis and Nicole Etchart)

Part III: The Business Plan in Action.

Fundamentals of Implementation (Patricia Caesar and Thomas Baker)

Real World Challenges of Implemention (Kim Alter)

Deploying Resources Effectively (Dennis R. Young)

Taking Your Venture to Scale (Rick Aubry)

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“We live in a world that begs for the creation of new models of economic justice and opportunities. This book provides valuable information to support the efforts of nonprofit entrepreneurs to succeed in creating and operating ventures that are both sustainable and replicable while meeting economic and societal needs. Go for it!”

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield,
co-founders, Ben & Jerry's

“Bringing together the best experts in the business, Generating and Sustaining Nonprofit Earned Income offers up critical advice and insights to help even the most experienced social entrepreneurs improve upon enterprise performance; A critical addition to any practitioner resource library.”

Jed Emerson,
Senior Fellow, Generation Foundation

“Nonprofit ventures have few of the traditional supports that are available to other types of organizations. Straddling the for-profit and nonprofit cultures, they inhabit a world not officially recognized, where roadmaps do not exist. Life on the thin strip between one land and another is always a precarious existence, full of trials and tribulations, but also charged with opportunity. This book provides the best thinking to help nonprofits capitalize on that opportunity.”

Bill Shore,
chairman, Community Wealth Ventures