Sustainability of grantmaker associations and support organisations
29 June - 1 July 2006
Istanbul, Turkey
Hosted by Türkiye Üçünçü Sektör Vakfi / TÜSEV (Third Sector Foundation of Turkey)
The quest for sustainability seems to be the recurring challenge for grantmaker associations and support organisations, regardless of their stage of development or size. While sustainability is often equated with financial stability, there are certainly other elements that contribute to (or hinder) not only the survival but also the growth of an association or support organisation.
This peer learning event provided an opportunity for network participants from different regions to share knowledge and experience, and collectively examine in depth a range of sustainability issues such as:
- How is sustainability defined and measured in the context of grantmaker associations and support organisations?
- What are its different components, and how are they interrelated?
- What are the specific challenges faced by membership organisations? How about other support organisations?
- How are these challenges addressed? What is the role of the members? The board? The CEO and staff?
- What are examples of creative approaches to fundraising and resource mobilisation?
- What key lessons have been learned?
As in past peer learning events, the detailed agenda was substantially shaped by those who signed up for the event. WINGS will aim to capture learning and material from the presentations and discussions in the form of a report to help participants feed back the experience to their own organisations and to share it with the broader WINGS network.
Additional online resources
- The Leader to Leader Institute has a website where they provide leadership resources that engage and inform social sector leaders: www.leadertoleader.org.
- The Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team provides a list of tools for non-for-profit organisations to increase their long-term viability and independence: www.nesst.org.
- Clara Miller's article in The Nonprofit Quarterly , The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money: Managing in For-Profits' Shadow Univers e takes a comparative look at the rules of money and finance in the non-profit and for-profit sectors: www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/704.html.
- There is great growth in the United States in nonprofits undertaking social enterprise. Some of these that may be useful resources include the Social Enterprise Alliance (www.se-alliance.org) and the Community Wealth Ventures, Inc (www.communitywealth.org).
- The Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers provides its network of regional association with materials and ideas on sustainability: www.givingforum.org.
- A key resource in the Unite States for association and membership management is the ASAE & The Center For Association Leadership: www.asaenet.org/index.cfm.
- WINGS makes available through its website Case Studies of Grantmaker Associations Around the World and Case Studies of Grantmaker Associations and Organizations Supporting Community Foundations.
- Jayne Millar Wood's An Overview: Drawing Wisdom from Experience , which summarises the key findings of the WINGS Case Studies, offers a section on sustainability with a set of guidelines taken from the case studies.
- The WINGS-CF face-to-face meeting in Berlin included one workshop session focusing on sustainability of support organisations. The report of this meeting, including specific points from this session, is available online.
- Notes of a discussion at the Annual Networking Meeting of the EFC's Community Philanthropy Initiative in 2004, focusing on sustaining the work of support organisations, are available online.
Presentations
Topic 1: What do we mean by sustainability?
Robert Wiggans, Council on Foundations (PPT, 4MB)
Elmer Lighid, International Council on Management of Population Programmes (PPT, 410 KB)
Topic 2: Planning as a prerequisite for sustainability
Mario A. Deriquito, Association of Foundations (PPT, 69KB; DOC, 43 KB)
Monica Mutuku, East Africa Association of Grantmakers (PPT, 54 KB)
Topic 3: Capacity building: key to long-term stability
Scot Marken, Donors Forum of South Florida (PPT, 128 KB)
Elmer Lighid, International Council on Management of Population (PPT, 39 KB)
Topic 5: A closer look at budgets and costs
Colin Lacon, Northern California Grantmakers (PPT, 60 KB)
Filiz Bikmen, Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (PPT, 91 KB)
Topic 6: Creative approaches to fundraising
Cristina Paula Baptista, Centro Português de Fundações (PPT, 159 KB)
Scot Marken, Donors Forum of South Florida (PPT, 60 KB)
Márcia Kalvon Woods, Institute for the Development of Social Investment (PPT, 2 MB)
Topic 7: Our members and their sustainability
Magdalena Ciobanu, Romanian Donors Forum (PPT, 4.4 MB)
Chris Mkhize, Southern Africa Community Foundation Association (PPT, 274 KB)
Topic 8: Competition and collaboration
Mario A. Deriquito, Association of Foundations (PPT, 43 KB; DOC, 27 KB)
Filiz Bikmen, Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (PPT, 91 KB)
