Increasing the Capacity of Individuals, Families and Communities

Revenue Sources

Step 1 Assess Your Goals and Financial Resource Capacity | Step 3 Homework on Federal Cost Sharing Regulations

STEP 2 Clarify Your Income Strategy

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You are now ready to select a revenue generating strategy. Refer to the “Income Strategy Grid” in the Appendix and your SWOT Key statements completed in Step 1 to create your own Income Strategy Grid.

Let’s use the previous SWOT analysis to create an Income Strategy Grid for the example XYZ organization. We have added all ten of the strategy Key Statements from the SWOT analysis and assigned a “+” if the proposed income strategy supported the criteria or a “-” if the strategy contributed little or nothing to the criteria. We assigned “++” if this was a crucial criteria.

Taking the first Income Strategy criteria statement, “Rapid revenue inflow,” three of the strategies supported this criteria and received a “+”; the fourth strategy (Alliance for in-kind) does not generate income and so received a “-”.

Comparison of Income Strategy Features Income strategy criteria Enhance Start Alliance for cash Alliance for in-kind Rapid revenue inflow ++ ++ ++ - Low initial outlay of cash or staff + - + + Low in-house resistance to change + - - - Low risk of failure + - - - Shortime elapsed until start-up ++ ++ - - Generates many new names - + - - Builds on in-house systems + + - - Builds on in-house expertise ++ - - - Creates urgencey or momentum - + + + Significant ease of tracking results + -     No consultant needed to get going + -     Significant ease in termination + -     SWOT Strength Key Statement 1 - Use the president's ability to ask for money + + + + SWOT Strength 2 - Capitalize on our history. Stability and low debt + + + + SWOT Strength 3 - use the Federal grant + + + + SWOT Weakness Key Statement 1 - Reduce our public invisibility, especially to funders - ++ ++ ++ SWOT Weakness 2 - Change cash flow cycle - + + - SWOT Opportunity Key Statement 1 - Use + + + + the building to generate revenue         SWOT Opportunity 2 - Use our board contacts with foundations + + + - SWOT Opportunity 3 - Use the gift of land + + - - SWOT Threat Key Statement 1 - Minimize the effect of ABC's visibility - + + + SWOT Threat 2 - Minimize ABC's broad support base - + + + TOTAL points (+ = 1)(++ = 2)(- = 0) 19 18 14 10

The XYZ Organization identified and highlighted (see grey bars) their top criteria and concluded they would first pursue a strategy to enhance an existing revenue source before seeking an alliance. At the same time, the grid indicates it’s time to develop at least one other revenue source, address the public invisibility issue and prepare the staff for change.

When you have completed the Income Strategy Grid, you are ready to move to the next step. Note:

If you choose to pursue an alliance you will need to develop an approach and a proposal. Again, for more information, see the Establishing Partnerships guidebook, part of the National Resource Center’s Intermediary Development Series. In Step 3, you will learn about cost sharing and indirect cost rates. If you choose to enhance an existing revenue source or start a new revenue source to meet a cost share, you will refer to Step 4 in the ACHIEVE process.

Step 2 Checklist Understand the relative advantages of each income strategy Complete the Income Strategy Grid Understand the relative advantages of each income strategy Select one of four income strategies for your organization

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Step 1 Assess Your Goals and Financial Resource Capacity | Step 3 Homework on Federal Cost Sharing Regulations