Income Generation and Sustainability

5 Proven Steps to Generate More Income and Have a More Sustainable Organisation

New times need new ways of thinking and charities need to tap into their natural ability to adapt to survive this recession.

When I meet an organisation for the first time to discuss funding strategies and the potential for income generation I am always struck by how often the organisation takes for granted some of its most valuable assets.

The need is to think outside the box in terms of income generation and funding, but build on what you are strong at and what you know and believe in. Even in these difficult times to abandon your core values and strengths will lead to disaster. If you are willing to do anything for money, follow any potential funding stream, staff and supporters will become confused and demotivated and will not know what they are supposed to be doing. In addition, you will not be capitalising on what has made you successful up until now.

Instead as I do when I run my Creative Think Tank Inspiration Day™ sessions you need to start with the first step of considering where the organisation wants to go, running an Inspirational Process™ so that everyone is inspired by what the organisation could achieve in terms of changing the world in its sector. Re-igniting people's passion will give them the strength to carry on when the going gets tough and certainly it can feel tough now. The important thing with this session is to ensure everyone is fully involved, it is not a pep talk from the CEO; staff and trustees need to come up with the future visions and then everyone needs to agree on the way forward. Once everyone knows why we need money it is easier to be creative and inspired about how to get it.

I also ensure that anybody who still feels negative is reminded about the impact of the organisation by using the next step The Emotional Story Builder™ to consider what would happen if the organisation ceased to exist. Use powerful questions to get answers that will impact the feelings, who will help the people you work with if you are not there, how will they live their lives, how alone will they feel? This session also provides strong ammunition for funding bids or fundraising materials to prompt donations.

Then we need to move on to the third step The Hidden Gem Process™ to establish all the potential within the organisation and the people within it, including skills, knowledge, resources that can be used, brand image and contacts, experience, even products that are of no value to the organisation but would be to someone else. Inevitably this identifies more opportunities than it would be possible to follow and the secret is to focus for success.

First you need to develop the parameters to prioritise the best opportunities, these will include levels of risk, potential for income generation, levels of upfront investment needed, longevity, fit with the organisation, I use the fourth step The Priorities Matrix™ to do this but the critical thing is to be clear about what is important to the organisation before you consider specific opportunities so that you do not get swayed by sentiment for a particular idea.

So finally you need to consider each idea in relation to the priorities for the organisation but balancing not only the income or funding opportunity but also the social impact. Success for any charity must be measured both in terms of the impact in achieving your mission and values and financially in terms of income and the building of resources. Using the final step The Income and Values Balancer™ I work through the issues and decisions for each idea that the organisation needs to consider.

Use these 5 proven steps to run such a session in your organisation and within a single day there will be a new way forward with fresh perspectives on how to generate more income, where to get charitable donations and funding from, and how to have a more sustainable organisation.

By Sarah Brown, CEO, Inspire2aspire
sarah@Inspire2Aspire.co.uk

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