Richard Brewster, Executive Director of NCNE, delivered a three-day training workshop on introducing earned-income initiatives to a group of NGOs principally concerned with supporting democratic institutions and acting as watchdogs over government institutions in Romania.  There was considerable enthusiasm for the subject and we've recently received some feedback on how organizations have progressed since the training. The local project manager reports:

 

“Experience on this topic was accumulated, difficulties encountered, enthusiasm and resistance accompanied the decision making process. As an outside observer it is very interesting to see how this idea is gaining support within individual organizations and within the sector.

 

Some organizations decided to invest time and resources in order to educate their membership (some sort of economic socialization) and postpone the final decision on starting earned income activities until most members feel comfortable and secure with it. Other organizations started the earned income project with limited prior preparation and they had a strong feeling that the newly created division was hijacked by the professional hired to conduct it. Other organizations - like one who wanted to develop a direct mail department - started to think about the opportunity costs and conducted an additional feasibility study on a different idea.  Other organizations started to advertise their current services to new customer segments they never approached before to see if this works or not.”

In other words the dilemmas and challenges faced by those looking to earn income are similar to those faced by nonprofit people in the US.

NCNE’s mission is to help nonprofits make wise economic decisions. We are the only nonprofit support organization that aims to provide information and advice on all aspects of sustainability.  We do this by providing a bridge between people who think and write about nonprofit management, principally in universities, and practitioners and the consultants and others that support them. 

 

On this website, you'll find details of our books and other publications and the training and consultancy that are the outward manifestations of our work; and you'll find a number of resources we hope will be useful to you as you think about and practice nonprofit management. We aim to build these into a knowledge base containing information and practical guidance on all aspects of resource management in nonprofits.

 

The website also provides a portal to the members of our Institutional Consortium.  This is a group of nonprofit academic centers and universities around the US who have a particular interest in decision making about resources by nonprofits.  They are crucial paying members of NCNE and we aim to add value to the operations by working in ways that are unique to this group.  You can learn more about these organizations here

 

The site also provides the opportunity to join NCNE and help us make a practical difference to nonprofits in their quest for greater impact and sustainability. 

The site has been developed by Cyber Services Inc. of Vienna, VA, whose staff have been helpful and endlessly patient. 

We will be delighted to receive your comments about the site, about the resources provided here and about resources that you feel we should be providing but aren’t. We would also like to hear about your experiences of making the difficult economic choices that are required if a nonprofit is to be continually successful and make a difference; and if you have questions about your nonprofit’s sustainability or about the economics of nonprofits in general, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

 

E-mail Richard Brewster at richard@nationalcne.org.