Nonprofits play a critical role in sustainable development. They fight for the downtrodden and marginalized, ensuring that no one is left behind in the race toward development. They hold the government and public sector accountable to its citizens, helping to track the distribution of resources in a way that is equitable and just.

Other actors are not quite set up in the same way.  Businesses aim to maximize profit for themselves and their shareholders. Governments seek to leverage the scarce state resources to provide services that improve the quality of lives of its people. In places like Africa, NGOs are the only lifeline for development, with governments failing spectacularly in delivering public goods and companies focused on exploiting people and processes for their capitalist benefits.

However, despite their importance, it is no longer business as usual for NGOs. The reliance on short-term funding means they are forced to implement small-scale projects that do not sufficiently tackle the issue. Donors have stricter requirements as they are under pressure from their constituents to demonstrate as much bang for the buck. The future of most nonprofits hangs in the balance as they are unable to adequately plan for the future and act sustainably. 

This is why I strongly believe that it is time for nonprofits to begin to leverage business insights that ensure that they can do their work…and do it better. My thinking is inspired by my professional experience and academic background. I hold an MBA in International Business from an American university and have a background in sales and marketing for one of Africa’s largest e-commerce stores. I have acquired almost a decade’s experience in leading fundraising and business development for nonprofits and social enterprises working across Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Below are the reasons why your NGO needs to adopt a business mindset to thrive in today’s social impact landscape.

1. Financial sustainability. This captures your ability to guarantee your NGO’s operations both now and in the future. Adopting a business mindset will put in place the systems and practices that you need to ensure you don’t have to shut down when your key donor’s funding dries up. 
2. Strong organizational culture. A sound organizational culture energizes your team, helping them to concentrate on working toward delivering on your mission for the benefit of your beneficiaries. Such a culture creates an enabling environment that makes all stakeholders such as your team, board, volunteers, implementing partners, among others to commit to your work.
3. Attracting and retaining the best talents. Retaining talents at a nonprofit is pretty difficult due to the crushing workloads, limited funding, project staffing tied to short-term projects, and the comparatively lower pay.  To attract the very best and fix the high turnover, you need to bring in business principles that make your NGO an attractive place to be in.
4. Increased return on impact. It is crucial that you begin to obsess about tracking and sharing the impact that your work makes in the lives of your beneficiaries. This isn’t just to tick a box on your donor checklist- it is actually for you! You signed up to try to change the world in the first place. You need to know how well you are doing and whether you are still on the right track.

In conclusion, your NGO is already in business anyway- the business of changing lives! To do it well, you need to think outside the box, abandon so-called trusted nonprofit approaches and revitalize your operations, resource mobilization, financial and program management with new business insights. 

The post Why every NGO should adopt a Business Mindset and Practice appeared first on travaille ensemble.

NGOs play various roles such as holding the government and other stakeholders accountable, initiating and providing services to marginalized peoples and communities, advocacy, and capacity building among others. However, these NGOs are often underresourced with limited capacities and support from within their communities. They sometimes face mistrust from their governments and often have to contend with shrinking civic spaces. In addition, the international development system is skewed against them with a preference for international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) who get the majority of the funding and can develop strong relationships with Western donors. 

Financial sustainability refers to the ability of an organization to generate resources that guarantee its operations both now and in the future. It enables an NGO to continue to deliver on its mission to its beneficiaries and maintain consistency in its impact. Sustainability is crucial as NGOs, by definition, are not profit-seeking and rely on the goodwill of various stakeholders to believe in their mission and support them with the resources to act upon it. Thus, without financial sustainability, an NGO is in danger of folding up and failing to have a lasting impact on mitigating the problem it has set out to solve for its beneficiaries. There are three crucial reasons why African NGOs need to plan for and attain financial sustainability. 

1. Stay true to your needs/mission

African NGOs are the best placed to make an impact in the communities that they serve. They come from the local communities, better understand the context, and are committed for the long term to work towards resolving the thorny problems that they face. Yet, they are sidelined by Western donors with less than 10% of USAID funding getting to them while INGOs gulp the rest. Donor priorities are fickle and change rather frequently. Their funding is tied to these priorities and African NGOs have to respond directly to those priorities to get funding irrespective of whether those are the actual needs on the ground. 

Financial sustainability enables the African NGO to stick to addressing the core problems it is trying to solve and avoid bending over to the external donor’s whims and caprices. It also helps the NGO to confidently choose which donors are most relevant to work with to attain its mission. Thus, the empowered local NGO would not jump on every funding opportunity out of desperation when it is not a right fit.  By keeping the needs of its community square and center, the NGO can better serve its community.

2. Consolidate on your impact

Donor funding is often short-term project funding. Project cycles are typically 1-3 years with multi-year funding beyond 3 years getting quite difficult to secure. In most instances, funders cover only a small fraction of the overhead costs that are required to keep the organization running. 

The situation is more complicated for African NGOs who often are relegated to minor sub-partners or subcontractors of INGOs in funded consortiums. They work on short-term activities across various projects that could be disparate and not coherently contribute to their impact. Moreover, external events such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and changing donor trends such as directing funding designated for external aid or Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) internally to cater to refugees have abruptly cut funding for projects run by African NGOs. 

A financially sustainable African NGO will design and implement comprehensive programs that bring it closer to achieving its intended impact over time. Such an NGO can focus its energies on implementing programs that support the community for the long term. It can also follow through on the short-term outcomes until they transform into the desired impact. 

3. Secure the holistic support of the community

A financially sustainable African NGO will be able to secure and harness the holistic support of its local community for its work. A by-product of the donor-driven system is that African NGOs may inadvertently sideline the local communities during program design as they rush to respond to deadlines for calls for proposals. Such a situation means there is less time to consult local communities to identify the actual problems, co-create the solutions, and get their buy-in before developing those projects. 

However, a financially sustainable NGO will take measures to be properly rooted in the local communities that they serve and harness their financial and material resources to truly lead development that is inclusive and more impactful. The communities and relevant stakeholders would perceive the NGO as an extension of themselves and work to ensure its success and sustainability. 

In conclusion, financial sustainability is crucial for African NGOs. It is important to plan for and work towards it to enable the NGO to stay true to its mission, consolidate its impact, and secure the holistic support of the community that it serves. To be financially sustainable, the African NGO needs to diversify its funding, seek unrestricted funding, build its financial reserves, and secure the full support of its local community stakeholders.

Allwell Akhigbe

Co-Founder and CEO

Travaille Ensemble

The post The importance of Financial sustainability for African NGOs appeared first on travaille ensemble.

However, African NGOs appear to be left behind in leveraging Giving Tuesday opportunities.  Although giving is in our African nature, there are little structured giving initiatives that encourage the culture of giving to African social impact organizations. Moreover, most African NGOs lack the technical capacity to design and implement fundraising events and initiatives that can enable them to take advantage of giving movements such as Giving Tuesday.

Travaille Ensemble is a philanthropy support organization (PSO) that shifts the power to African NGOs for financial sustainability through grantwriting and business development training. Travaille Ensemble, in partnership with the Giving Tuesday Africa Hub, has designed this webinar to build the capacity of African NGOs to localize the Giving Tuesday movement and determine practical steps to design and implement a Giving Tuesday campaign for fundraising. Two incredible speakers from Giving Tuesday Africa Hub will share their expert insights in designing and implementing a Giving Tuesday campaign. 

Eme Iniekung, Programs and Partnerships Manager at Giving Tuesday Africa Hub, will provide an introduction to the Giving Tuesday movement and what it portends for African philanthropy.  Next, Folakemi Adesina, Giving Tuesday Nigeria Country Lead will share detailed steps on designing and implementing a Giving Tuesday campaign for Nigerian NGOs.

Date: Friday, November 24, 2023

Time: 12 pm – 1pm WAT

Location: Zoom

Register below to join the conversation. Reach out with any questions to in**@**************le.com

The post Giving Tuesday 2023- How African NGOs can benefit from the Global Generosity Movement appeared first on travaille ensemble.