I spoke at a conference in L.A. last week on the “Business of Grant Writing.”  I had the wonderful opportunity to hear the President of The Weingart Foundation,  Fred J. Ali, speak about how nonprofits can be sustainable in a time when grant funding and donations are reduced.

Be well led.  Have a fully engaged board with agreement on your mission and vision.

Your leadership must communicate your mission and vision to get donors to contribute.

Look at what’s core to your mission and competence and get rid of the rest.

Determine a realistic and sustainable budget level…have a contingency plan.

Have timely, reliable, and accurate financial data.

Focus INITIALLY on a long-term, reliable source of funding rather than finding diversified funding sources.

Have unrestricted, general operating costs in place… the Weingart foundation gives these types of grants and Mr. Ali is working on impressing this need on other donors as well.

Suspend your egos and work with other organizations.

Maintain your essential infrastructure even though it means cutting programs.

DON’T cut the development department.

I’d love to read your comments on what your nonprofit is doing to be sustainable through the next few years!