Deborah Puntenney

How can nonprofit organizations reduce their reliance on grants, especially if this funding stream dries up? Their own internal assets may offer a wealth of untapped opportunities, according to a new publication written by IPR and ABCD Institute research associate Deborah Puntenney.

The workbook, A Guide to Building Sustainable Organizations from the Inside Out, draws on the same ABCD principles of asset-mapping that low-income communities throughout the world are now using for revitalization and growth. The guide will be published in early summer by the Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW).

The materials in the book were developed through a program that CFW began in 1998, The Sustainability of Healthy Organizations for Women for the 21st Century (SHOW-21). In this program, members of eight Chicago women's organizations, all CFW grantees, have been exploring and implementing asset-mapping strategies for organizations that follow the guidelines developed by John McKnight and John Kretzmann for communities defined by geographic boundaries.

Participants in SHOW-21 translated their experiences and learning into a capacity-building process designed to more firmly assure their sustainability. The three-step process looks internally for assets within an organization, explores how the organizations can more effectively mobilize these assets and capacities, and identifies opportunities to build relationships and increase connections to these newly discovered resources.

In the case of nonprofits, the principal assets advanced in the book are human resources, physical, financial, and reputational resources, constituents, and related outside organizations and supporters. Using a series of worksheets, the book guides nonprofits through 11 different asset-mapping "tools" for discovering and enhancing their resource base. Among the human resource assets, for instance, are their board of directors (who can offer connections to government or corporations, expertise for special events, help in securing major gifts), employees (with special skills, talents, or outside interests), volunteers, constituents, and outside supporters and funders.

One local nonprofit, Women in the Director"s Chair, which traditionally held its annual film festival in rented venues, offers an example of how physical assets can be put to work. Forced to look for new space, the group found a location where they can not only stage their own events but rent out the space to generate more revenue. As an added bonus, "they now have a community face in Uptown," said Puntenney, where new visibility means new supporters and potentially new contributors.