Nonprofit Lifecycles

What is a Nonprofit Lifecycle?

Nonprofit organizations are at the heart of great work in communities throughout the country. Some start up to serve a particular mission and last for many years, some ride through good times and bad, others may lose focus and falter. All organizations move through different stages of development, from start-up to growth, decline to turnaround, growth to maturity as a normal process. 

It is important for organizations to recognize at what stage they are in to begin focusing on planning for the future.

What is the Lifecycle approach?

In 2001, Susan Kenny Stevens compiled her 30 years of nonprofit experience and research into an approach to assess a nonprofit's health and capacity. The framework developed created a model that enables nonprofits to identify and allocate the right resources to their internal infrastructure to build capacity and sustainabilty.  She outlined her approach in her book Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity. Her work helps highlight the importance of the key capacity areas of governance, management, administration and resources, that must be operating in balance to support a nonprofit’s programs and mission.

Read on to learn more about the impacts of working with Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute, and other resources available.

The NonProfit Lifecycle approach:

• Provides an assessment model to help an organization identify where they are in their “lifecycle”.
• Helps identify areas of organizational planning and capacity building efforts
• Increases insight into current challenges and opportunities for development.
• Identifies concrete steps to help strengthen the “table legs” to successfully support an organization’s mission and programs.

All materials and images are copyrighted by the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute and are used with permission.

Consultants trained in the Lifecycle Approach, are available to work with Saskatchewan nonprofits. Find a consultant.

Other resources:

To find out more about the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute, visit its website. 

Copies of Nonprofit Lifecycles are available for $30, plus shipping and handling. Email SaskCulture for more information.