Pursuing Sustainability: Understanding and Strengthening Your Business Model

Registration is Closed for this Workshop.

Pursuing Sustainability: Understanding and Strengthening Your Business Model

Half-Day Workshop: $80

3 CEUs

Wednesday, September 25, 2013, 9 a.m. –Noon

Steven D. Zimmerman, M.B.A., Principal, Spectrum Nonprofit Services

Session Description

For nonprofit business models to remain sustainable, strategic decisions need to integrate both mission impact and financial viability. Based on the bestselling book, Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability, this interactive training provides both the framework and practical tools needed to move your organization toward sustainability. We’ll introduce an easy-to-use tool, the Matrix Map, which creates a single, compelling image that reflects your organization’s business model in a manner that will make sense to all stakeholders. We will then determine the adjustments needed to strengthen your organization’s sustainability. At the conclusion of this session participants will:

• Understand the concepts of sustainability, the nature of nonprofit business models, and how their activities work together to create a sustainable organization.
• Be able to prepare a Matrix Map—a visual tool for depicting an organization’s business model.
• Be able to analyze their business model and articulate the strategic imperatives.

Audience: Executive Directors, Management Staff, Board

Content Level: Intermediate

Speaker Bio

Steven D. Zimmerman, CPA, M.B.A. is the Principal of Spectrum Nonprofit Services where he provides training and consulting in the areas of finance and strategy for community-based organizations, foundations and government agencies throughout the country. Steve is co-author of the book Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability published by Jossey-Bass with Jeanne Bell of CompassPoint and Jan Masaoka of Blue Avocado. The book highlights Spectrum’s integrated approach to nonprofits which balances mission impact and financial viability. Steve also writes the finance and strategy column for Blue Avocado, an online magazine for nonprofits with 60,000 subscribers, and has also written for The Nonprofit Quarterly and Board Source. Prior to starting Spectrum, Steve was a Projects Director with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit consulting, training and research providers. Steve’s extensive nonprofit experience includes serving as a Chief Financial Officer, Development Director and Associate Director at community-based nonprofits where he performed turnarounds resulting in increased financial sustainability and programmatic reach. He is a Certified Public Accountant and earned a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Yale University.