Online: The Resourced Nonprofit: The Fundamental Attributes of a Sustainable Community Organization

Tuesdays, October 7, 14, 21, & 28, 2025
10:00AM – 11:30AM
Online via Zoom – This series will be recorded, excluding breakout rooms

The advancement of every nonprofit’s mission is dependent on leveraging a strong foundation of diverse and sustainable resources to do the work. Thriving nonprofits are typically not the result of a dependence on one-time funding and short-term partnerships. Sustainability is the result of cultivating long-term buy-in and loyalty from growing numbers of people and organizations, building significant reputation equity, and demonstrating impact.

In this workshop series, “The Resourced Nonprofit,” we will explore the cultivation and leveraging of sustainable equity from key relationships that advance an organization’s mission through the following questions:

• What is a resourced nonprofit, and how does my organization compare?
• How does a nonprofit organization leverage its resources into a sustainable community impact business model?
• What are the critical “resourcing” questions nonprofits should be asking themselves today?
• What are the strategic options that arise from the answers to those questions?

Session 1: The Essential Elements of a Resourced Nonprofit
Tuesday, October 7, 2025 | 10:00am – 11:30am PT
The first session lays the groundwork for establishing a baseline of definitions and concepts about the attributes of a “resourced” nonprofit. Participants will be asked to consider the levels to which their organizations are moving towards having sustainable diverse resources.

Learning outcomes:

• Define what would be considered a resourced nonprofit to create group consensus that will be applied throughout the workshop series and for each participating nonprofit.
• Present a “Resourced Nonprofit” model as a learning tool for participants and a facilitation guide for nonprofits concerned about evolving a resourced organization.
• Introduce the concept of “leveraging” and identify the key resource levers present in most nonprofit organizations.
• Recommend five key questions to guide retreats and group discussions to focus on organizational sustainability and resource leveraging for the long-term mission advancement.
• Identify the critical financial indicators of sustainability that all nonprofit leaders must monitor in their pursuit of being “resourced.”
• Present a nonprofit leader who has focused on “sustainability” and “leveraging” as an applied learning opportunity for participants to ask questions and draw parallels with their own organizations.

Session 2: Community Reputation and Goodwill in a Resourced Nonprofit
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 | 10:00am – 11:30am PT
Every community impact organization relies on the sustainable goodwill of society and the people who benefit from the tireless work of the cause. Most nonprofits relied on the leveraged goodwill of the community prior to even opening their doors. This session reflects on how community goodwill is essential for a truly “resourced nonprofit” and provides methods to leverage that goodwill into additional sources of sustainable resources for the organization’s future.

Learning outcomes:

• Identify the “founding principles” of cultivating and sustaining community goodwill when a nonprofit is just getting started.
• Participant application of community goodwill cultivation principles to their founding stories and current leadership strategies.
• Suggest the importance of “movements” and “causes” as essential paradigms applied to nonprofits seeking community goodwill as a sustainable resource to their success.
• Discussion of the concept of “community equity” and its relationship to sustainable fundraising, a resilient community reputation, and contributor cultivation.
• Apply the concept of “leveraging” to community goodwill to consider specific strategies that can lead to sustainable resources for a nonprofit organization.
• Present examples of community goodwill leveraged into a sustainable resource.
• Recommend four key questions every nonprofit should ask itself regarding community goodwill as a leveraged resource for long-term sustainability.

Session 3: Board Stewardship in a Resourced Nonprofit
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 | 10:00am – 11:30am PT
How a nonprofit board views itself as a resource to an organization’s long-term sustainability is a shared understanding that must be discussed often. Future generations of board members inherit a board culture that either positions the board, itself, as a long-term leveraged resource or an on-going liability that inhibits sustainability.  This session will challenge participants to consider the roles of governance and board members in a community cause to assure it is being adequately resourced to be of benefit to society.

Learning outcomes:

• Consider the outcomes of governance as demonstrated acts of stewardship in assuring a sustainable cause for the community.
• Identify the roles of the board to leverage community goodwill and other critical relationships for sustainable resourcing of the organization.
• Discuss the distinct board responsibilities from executive responsibilities in cultivating and leveraging sustainable resources for the nonprofit.
• Present the idea of a nonprofit life cycle and how boards and management understand the evolving nature of acquiring and cultivating sustainable resources.
• Review the key indicators of financial sustainability every board member should know and monitor.
• Present examples of board governance and board member stewardship leveraged into sustainable resources
• Recommend four key questions every nonprofit should ask itself regarding governance as a leveraged resource for long-term sustainability.

Session 4: Staff and Volunteer Loyalty in a Resourced Nonprofit
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 | 10:00am – 11:30am PT
Unique to the nonprofit sector, human talent and drive are the largest sources of initial capital investment required to get missions mobilized. Hands, heads, and hearts are the adhesives that hold a resourced nonprofit together. In this session, participants will be challenged to consider how the treatment of people, the cultivation of loyalty, the succession of talent, and celebrations of achievement form an unstoppable workforce of paid and unpaid people as the “secret sauce” behind the resourced nonprofit organization.

Learning outcomes:

• Centering “time” and “talent” as priceless commodities and essential components of a truly resourced nonprofit.
• Affirming loyalty as a leveraging tool to build sustainable resources for a nonprofit.
• Consider strategies for staff and volunteers to agree that their organization is “sustainable” and they understand their key roles in the organization’s sustainability.
• Suggest the critical role of succession planning as one form of insurance that a sustainable and resourced nonprofit is in place for the community.
• Present examples of staff and volunteer relationships as powerful leverages to assuring a sustainable nonprofit.
• Recommend four key questions every nonprofit should ask itself regarding staff and volunteer relations as a leveraged resource for long-term sustainability.

$80 for NAWA Members – Find the coupon code on the Member Resources page.

$160 for Not-yet-Members. Interested in becoming a NAWA Member? Learn more about membership here.

Cost should not be a barrier to participate. Please contact us if you have any requests, concerns, or questions regarding the cost of this workshop. 

Find NAWA’s cancellation and refund policies here.

This workshop series is ideal for nonprofit executives and board members, as well as anyone involved in resource development or strategic planning for mission-driven nonprofit organizations.

Registrants will receive the webinar recording by email after the event. If there are breakout rooms, they will not be included in the recording. If you can’t attend the training but you are interested in learning about this topic, please register so we can send you the recording and materials.

Captioning: We will have automated captioning enabled.

Interpretation: Please indicate during registration if you have an interpretation request. Typically, we need at least two weeks in order to schedule an interpreter.

Visual Descriptions: Presenters will include visual descriptions of themselves and the slides to give a person who is low-vision, blind, or calling in without video a sense of space and place.

If you have additional accessibility requests, please let us know when you register.

Presented by Nonprofit Association of Washington in partnership with Interim Executive Academy.

Questions? Check out the event FAQ page or contact Nonprofit Association of Washington

Phone: (855) 299-2922 x108

Email: [email protected]