Nonprofit Business Planning

Mission-Related Revenue Generating Activity

FarmVille is an on-line game that is deeply rooted in the mission of Water.org.  A partnership with Zynga (the provider), Piza Hut and Water.org will bring income to Water.org while hopefully providing education to gamers. 

FarmVille has more than 56 million monthly users.  Talk about getting your message to scale...

Generating Funds May Be About Reducing Expenses

Nonprofits who are facing even more government cuts may want to consider a revenue generating activity OR they can identify significant ways to reduce expenses. 

Check-out this Christian Science Monitor story for some insights.

Nonprofit Revenue Generating Items

Here's some nonprofit revenue generating items that may have a larger market/demand than this group is appealing to (i.e. your nonprofit could consider similar products/offerings): http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2012/1222/Food-related-gifts-that-give-back

Revenue Generating Venture

A nonprofit's revenue generating venture can serve a number of purposes.  One of the most popular hopes for a venture is to generate a sustainable source of unrestricted income that offsets dependency on less predicatable grant income.  I learned in The Week this week that one nonproft has revenue generating venture that is likely not matched by many.  Specifically, the Mormons (LDS) have a relationship with the Marriott Hotel organization.  Now a quick internet search only affirmed that the Marriott Family are devout Mormons and that the Marriott Hotel International is "owned" by the Church but the Church in terms, through tithing is a beneficiary of the Marriott riches.

Owned or not, the idea that a nonprofit would indeed make such an investment certainly is an enticing consideration recognizing though that this arrangement would mean that there would be acccountability for unrelated business income tax (UBIT).  The thing about UBIT: who cares -- UBIT really only means that instead of $100 income, the income is maybe only $75 -- a figure way bigger than $0.

Nonprofit Revenue Goals Vs Nonprofit Revenue Goals

The details are clearly lacking to me but it's an interesting storyline that has a "subsidiary" nonprofit that owns a building wanting to raise the rent on the building by a pretty humongous amount.  The lessons are plentiful begining with the question of who's goals matter most.  Check this out and certainly for nonprofit boards that create a subsidiary for any number of reasons, be forewarned.

Nonprofit Thrift Stores, Tag Sales Etc All At Risk

If your nonprofit has generated non-philanthropic funds from selling used books and other media, the "right" to do this could end shortly.  And the "right" is in the hands of the Supreme Court.  Maybe for many you just won't sell these items but maybe there's other distribution methods to date that have not been utilized.  Now's the time to start thinking about the implications of such an act.

For more information, check out the article in the Christian Science Monitor.