Why do most nonprofits stay small and never reach financial sustainability?

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor

Too many people ask…how can I get more money from major donors? 

Let’s flip that and ask the opposite question…

Why do most organizations stay small and never reach financial sustainability?

A quick list off the top of my head: 

🫚Goals and budgets are created in the scarcity zone based on what’s committed or just a little bit more than last year.

 

🫚Donors don’t understand the true problem the organization solves and their role in it - the case for support is a brochure vs. a strategic asset. 

🫚Fundraising plans are lists of activities that are not rooted in a High-ROI Model (Hours aligned with dollars) 

🫚Fundraising teams are spending too much time on administrative tasks and transactions. 

🫚Donors don’t understand the orgs financial need because teams haven’t been properly trained to host investment-level conversations or solicit donors. 

🫚Boards are either dis-engaged or too engaged [both handcuff the leader].

 

One more thing…

[A note about financial sustainability] In my world, financial sustainability looks like being less dependent on government/project-based funds, having a 6-9 month reserve in the bank, not tapping into a line of credit every year, and your team knowing how to attract and secure mostly unrestricted dollars.

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and adding 7-figures + to their bottom line. 

🍎 Read my GUIDE! THE TRUTH ABOUT GIVE/GETS :: Top 5 Reasons Your Board’s Give/Get Is Leaving Thousands (Sometimes Millions) on the Table. See how limiting board members to the Give/Get model restricts gifts and keeps your staff from reaching their full fundraising potential. Here to get it.

📈 Work with me to scale your org's revenue by 2-5X and fund your organization’s Strategic Plan // If you’re a business-minded CEO already raising MILLIONS but need to diversify revenue and secure more general-operating dollars to invest in growth, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with growth-minded Nonprofit CEOs who are scaling their organizations but still need larger amounts of general operating support to truly grow. She breaks their teams free from the limitations of transactional fundraising and helps them reimagine their entire approach to revenue generation.

The high-performing leaders Sherry works with want to find and secure more unrestricted revenue from investment-level donors. They simply need more funding to do what’s in their Strategic Plan. To achieve this, she transforms their teams and boards into high-ROI revenue generators - revealing how they can align every hour they spend fundraising with new principles that double and triple donation sizes.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients regularly add 7-figures of gen-ops revenue to their bottom line by learning how to attract investment-level donors that WANT to fund their work. But the biggest transformation they experience is knowing the exact strategy, path, and team that will propel them to generate the 2-10X dollars their strategic plans require.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two teenage daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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