"How did you turn your organization around?" After being asked many times over, Akaya Windwood of Rockwood Leadership Institute and Rajasvini Bhansali of IDEX - International Development Exchange share their approach to financial stability and programmatic impact. As leaders of nonprofits, and as women of color, they share their experience and their wisdom with the sector as a whole.

1. 19 WAYS TO
PREVENT YOUR
NONPROFIT’S DEMISE
Hard-earned wisdom from Akaya Windwood of Rockwood
Leadership Institute and Rajasvini Bhansali of IDEX

2. Does your
nonprofit
recognize
itself?
STAY
ON
PURPOSE

3. Tell your
origin story
OFTEN.
Remind
stakeholders of
“why” you exist.

4. Staff well-being?
Make it a priority.

5. Build something that
attracts resources.
Integrate joy,
love, and
positivity.

6. Let your constituents lead you
in strategizing.

7. Treat funders like real people.
No one wants to be a transaction.

8. Respect the funding ecosystem.
Our organizations are, too, interconnected.

9. Don’t take rejection personally.
Use it as an opportunity to heal wounds around
self-worth, skill, and competency.

10. Don’t lead alone. Ask for help.
Find people to whom can you say,
“I’m terrified,” and they will still support you.

11. Don’t treat your supporters
Tell the real, full, complicated story
of your work.
like they’re 5th graders.

12. The 100% sustainable
social enterprise is a…
Acknowledge
the roles of
philanthropy
and earned
income.

13. Make sure earned income models are:
• compelling,
• mission-aligned, and
• purpose-driven.

14. What your mother
taught you…
…was right.
“If you can’t afford it, don’t by it.”

15. Be the right size.

16. Know your true costs.
Develop a budget
that includes the
real costs of doing
business.

17. Don’t represent yourself to funders
on the cheap.
It costs money to keep the lights on.
It just does.

18. Practice regular reflection with staff.
Use curiosity, not critique.

19. Own what you know and don’t know.
There is no
“fake it ‘til you
make it” when it
comes to
finances.

20. Heal your personal beliefs around
money and power.
Money = a flow of energy between ideas, people and organizations.

21. CONTACT US
SHARE HOW YOU’RE CREATING MORE STABLE NONPROFITS.
rockwoodleadership.org
@AkayaWindwood
www.idex.org
@rajasvini