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KNOWLEDGE CASE STUDIES ARTICLES AND PAPERS THEMES NEWSLETTERS BRIDGESTAR RESOURCES HELPFUL LINKS Business Planning for Nonprofits Costs Are Cool: The Strategic Value of Economic Clarity Expanding the Supply of High-Quality Public Schools Funding: Patterns and Guideposts in the Nonprofit Sector Going for the Gold Going to Scale: The Challenge of Replicating Social Programs Growth of Youth-Serving Organizations Higher-Impact Philanthropy How Nonprofits Get Really Big In Search of Sustainable Funding Knowledge Sharing in the Social Sector Money Matters More Bang for the Buck Moving Eco-certification Mainstream National Networks Nonprofit Overhead Costs The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit RAPIDSM Decision-Making Reclaiming the American Dream Replicating High-Performing Public Schools Seeing the Internet's (Not So) Obvious Benefits Should Nonprofits Seek Profits? Toward e-Engagement Zeroing in on Impact

How Nonprofits Get Really Big   William Foster and Gail Fine This article appeared in the Spring 2007 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). Between 1970 and 2003, 144 nonprofits went from founding to at least $50 million or more in annual revenue. While this is a small percentage of all the nonprofits started during this period, it’s a larger number than is generally perceived. How did these trailblazing organizations achieve such substantial growth? They focused their efforts on funding in one concentrated area. Casting a wide net may seem like a logical approach; but in fact, most high-growth nonprofits had a single dominant funding source, which accounted for just over 90 percent of their total funding. They found a funding source that was a natural match to their mission. Corporations, for example, almost always offer in-kind support focused on hunger or health issues. Far from being random, large funders’ interests often fall into distinct categories. They built a professional organization to support their chosen funding model, for example, bringing in people with expertise in areas like marketing or logistics. For many organizations, this step marks an important cultural shift. Growth is not the right answer for every organization. But for those that do want to increase revenues substantially, understanding the paths that others have blazed over the past four decades may increase their odds of success. To download the full article from the SSIR website, please click here. Profiles of High-growth Nonprofits (Grouped by dominant funding source) Government Communities in Schools HELP USA HOPE Worldwide Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership Population Services International Safe Horizon Texas Migrant Council Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. Youth Villages Individuals Habitat for Humanity Make-A-Wish Foundation of America National Wild Turkey Federation Natural Resources Defense Council Corporate American Kidney Fund Greater Boston Food Bank Oregon Food Bank Service Fees Nehemiah Corporation of America Success For All Foundation Trust for Public Land No Dominant Source Conservation International Opportunity International For William Foster's podcast interview on this topic, please visit SSIR's Social Innovation Conversations site. What do you think? We invite you to submit comments on what you have read. Please direct your feedback to feedback@bridgespan.org. Strategies for Social Impact, the knowledge letter created from Bridgespan's consulting work, shares insights from client engagements, and is offered free of charge. Subscribe to Strategies for Social Impact.

OF INTEREST   Funding: Patterns and Guideposts in the Nonprofit Sector Knowledge of other nonprofits’ sources of funding may help you create a stronger economic model for yours.   Should Nonprofits Seek Profits? Eager to reduce their dependence on fundraising, more and more nonprofits are launching earned-income ventures - with disappointing results.   Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection: Using Data to Discover What’s Possible This Rochester-based nonprofit feared local opportunities for funding and partnerships were becoming tapped out, but were they?