Revenue Growth
Most organizations want to grow their revenue, but the harder question is where that growth should come from and which opportunities are actually worth pursuing. Too often, revenue discussions move too quickly to a solution without understanding what the best options are given the organization's current and past successes and failures, the current environment, and the organization's mission and skill set. Additionally, organizations often don't project what the actual bottom line impact of potential revenue streams are before making choices. We help with a process and structure for evaluating what the best options are and how to pursue them.
Our Process
We start with a revenue trend and financial position analysis
We analyze revenue trends, expense patterns, funding mix, cash position, and areas of financial pressure to understand how the current funding model is functioning, the reasons why lines of revenue are increasing or decreasing, and where revenue growth is most realistic given cash flow and balance sheet realities.
That analysis gives us the starting point. It helps clarify the organization’s financial reality before new revenue paths are considered.
We assess the revenue opportunities
From there, we identify the best revenue opportunities for an organization. We look at current and potential revenue streams, benchmark approaches and funding models used by peer organizations, and then examine what may be realistic given the organization’s mission, market, structure, and capacity.
We also perform net revenue calculations to assess the potential contribution of different opportunities. That helps leaders move beyond gross revenue assumptions and get clearer about what each opportunity may actually return after costs are considered.
We use a disciplined process to prioritize
Once that groundwork is in place, we use our proprietary Revenue Opportunity Evaluation Matrix™ to help clients evaluate and prioritize the most viable opportunities. Using a defined set of criteria, we assess which opportunities are strongest, which may be worth building toward over time, and which are unlikely to make sense for the organization.
Custom Client Engagements and Workshops
Workshops for multiple nonprofits
In addition to doing this work one-on-one with clients, we also facilitate workshops that help leadership teams across multiple nonprofits work through real opportunities together. These sessions provide a structured way to apply the process, test ideas, and build shared understanding around what is worth pursuing. This is a cost-effective way for foundations to build capacity across multiple grantee organizations.
Workshops are offered through The Revenue Institute, an affiliate company owned and operated Nancy and Adam. Contact us for additional details.
Applied in University Teaching
This process is taught by us within the nationally ranked Master of Nonprofit Organizations program at Case Western Reserve University.