Have you ever wondered which funding models enable non-profits to achieve large-scale impact? We did too. So, to find an answer, I spoke to 28 leading organisations that have “walked the walk,” including:

• Malaria Consortium
• One Acre Fund
• Rainforest Alliance
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America 
• Last Mile Health
• … and many, many more

Thanks to their expertise, we uncovered valuable insights, which we’ve packaged up for you to learn from—and act on—in Securing Non-Profit Funding.

This report is not merely a list of the trade-offs among funders but a deep dive into strategies that have enabled organisations to deliver life-changing work at scale by leveraging the strengths of various funding sources.

These insights are relevant for non-profits regardless of whether they’re planning to scale now or in the future.

I wanted to focus on one of the most important topics: how governments view, fund, and work with non-profits to scale impactful solutions. 

The image below highlights how much (or how little) governments invest in non-profits for the critical capacity-building support they receive to roll out solutions at scale.

Non-profits rarely scale solutions alone, but funding gaps persist even with major partners on board. To help minimise costs, many successful non-profits embed delivery expenses within their partners’ systems.

However, while this strategy may offset some of the delivery costs, it’s unlikely that partners—even those well-resourced—will fully fund the essential support that the non-profit needs to deliver the solution effectively.

So, how can your non-profit continue delivering impactful work despite these funding challenges?

Here are a few key areas to focus on, based on the journeys of the 28 organisations we studied:

• Demonstrate your solution’s affordability within a price point your funders are willing to pay.
• Build evidence that your solution is effective.
• Design your solution for easy integration within existing systems.
• Create a culture of testing to adapt to changing funding sources
• Diversify your income channels to ensure sustainability.

The report explores each of these steps in more depth, with real case studies showing what they look like in action. I invite you to read the report, dive into the details, and hopefully find inspiration.