Are You Ensuring Sustainable Resources? Why? How?

Do you ensure sustainable resources?

Every organization – especially a not-for-profit – needs more resources. That goes without saying. Not just sustainable but also sustaining. But why?

There is but one reason – to achieve your mission.

So, your mission must be of critical importance to you (why else are you at the table?) and to your community (why else are they funding it among competing choices?).

It must be sufficiently important that you are driven to ensure sustainable resources to achieve it.

It must also be sufficiently important that your community can see how it affects the quality of experience of people who live and work in the community (whether municipal, association, membership, campus, etc.)

Then how do you ensure sustainable resources?

We used to talk about advocacy as a primary board role, but advocacy is a process, not an outcome. The outcome in most cases is favourable policy decisions or sustaining resources.

If your mission is important, even critical, to your community (can we take that as a given?), and it needs resources to be achieved (can we take that as a given?), then the board has a significant role and responsibility here.

And, no, it is not the job of the Chief Executive Officer to ensure sustainable resources. You represent the community. The community (in most cases) is the funder. You are the connectors and advocates for the community and for the program or service, and without seeming to be self-serving, as, for example, with a job on the line.

Do you then have a plan for advocacy and influence?

How do you work with your primary funder(s)?

What is your plan?

Is it clear, with training, assigned responsibilities, and accountability?

Surely the importance of your mission deserves at least that level of commitment from the board, from the organization as a whole, and from you.

What are your main “pain points” dealing with ensuring resources? With advocacy and influence?

What advice would be most helpful to you? And we always assume that you are asking for a friend!

Get in touch. We’ll get back to you and address your questions and concerns in an upcoming blog post.

New Cohort Available!

The New Board Member 101:

Your accelerated path to competence and confidence. 

In this one-month course, you will move from feeling reticent and tentative to competent and confident, asking good questions and making great contributions.

The course complements and reinforces your on-site orientation and opens new channels of communication and discussion. Four weeks. Eight lessons.

Now offered every second month: September, November, January, March, May.

Click here to learn more about The New Board Member 101.

You can get more of our thoughts on Facebook and LinkedIn. Join our Facebook Group for Executive Directors and Board members: Governance as Leadership

We are currently addressing these 10 Critical Questions Boards Need to Ask Themselves:

1 Why are you here?

2 Who is your employee?

3 What is your role?

4 Why are you meeting?

5 How do you ensure sustainable resources?

6 What are your KSFs?

7 How do you manage risk?

8 How do you ensure transparency?

9 How do you foster a culture of inquiry and assessment?

10 How do you continue to improve?

See our other blog posts for more insights.

May I ask a tiny favour? 

Would you mind sharing this blog with one person? I would love it. You can post the links in your Facebook Groups, LinkedIn or even send an email.