The Class
Introduction
Organizational “sustainability” is a term frequently associated with moments of crisis in the lives of development organizations—moments which threaten an organization’s ability to operate and be “sustainable” over time. The crisis obliges the organization to quickly reflect upon its situation, and too often, as decision-makers focus on short-term solutions, they conclude: We simply need more money!
In the literature this is more frequently referred to as “NGO” sustainability or “nonprofit” sustainability. In this class we will be working with concepts that relate to NGOs and nonprofits in general, but also to a broader range of actors (e.g. local governments, social entrepreneurs, social movements, CBOs, etc.) whose raison d’être is contributing to social change. As such we will use the term social change organization (SCO) as a more encompassing term.
The irony, as demonstrated by this partial view of SCO sustainability, is that many of these same organizations—before the crisis—believed that they were sustainable, when it is debatable whether they were or not. In other words, they confused financial stability with organizational sustainability. Stability implies having enough money in the short- to mid-term to carry out an organization’s planned and unplanned activities, whereas sustainability implies having strong overall organizational fundamentals in place that enable the organization to contribute to meaningful social change over the long term.
Although financial aspects are important—an organization cannot survive without resources—the majority of these characteristics are tied to issues of organizational relevance, collaboration, sense making in complex environments, and focus on impact. Nonprofit organizational development literature shows that organizations which exemplify these characteristics are more likely to be “sustainable” over the long term. The challenge is to build creative funding strategies on the foundation of solid organizational fundamentals. Looking at organizational sustainability through a purely financial lens might produce short to mid-term stability, but it is unlikely that it will lead to a meaningful sustainability.
So, sustainability isn’t a magical destination that SCOs arrive at when they become financially stable over a significant period of time. Rather, this class will take organizational sustainability to be:
The ongoing development, application and institutionalization of an evolving and emerging set of tangible and intangible capacities for sense making in complex realities. This is done in a way that is meaningful to key stakeholders, and which allows the organization to innovate, remain relevant, and survive over time.
As such we will devote significant class time, readings and exercises to exploring the following questions:
1) How do these capacities emerge in particular contexts?
2) How do organizations pursue sustainability and survival strategies in complex environments? What conditions need to be in place for these strategies to be effective?
3) What methodologies can be relevant to supporting these emergent processes?
Course focus
This course provides a practical, critical, and systemic look at organizational sustainability of SCOs, while exploring a series of pathways for approaching organizational sustainability. Consideration will be given to how organizational practices, procedures and systems (including those related to budgeting, resource generation, resource management, and marketing) influence long-term organizational viability. We will focus on designing business models that contribute to mission achievement and sustainability for organizations that work in complex environments. Throughout the class we will critically analyze organizational relevance and responsiveness to primary organizational constituencies. The use of managerial performance metrics in relation to organizational sustainability will also be explored.