Stages of Nonprofit Capacity Building

Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-Based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity, by Susan Kenny Stevens, breaks down the development of nonprofit organizations into seven stages, from the “idea phase” to the terminal one, when an organization must either renew itself or shut down. Susan Kenny Stevens, a consultant, author, and lecturer on finance, management, and organization for philanthropic and nonprofit groups, offers a “developmental perspective on nonprofit capacity and its relationship to increased performance.” By identifying different stages of growth and the characteristics associated with each stage, nonprofit leaders should be better able to diagnose their group’s abilities, set realistic expectations for their activities during a given stage, and be alert to problems if the organization is not delivering programs appropriate to its stage, says Ms. Stevens. One section of the book highlights common difficulties that organizations face at particular stages and provides examples of these challenges. The book concludes with a discussion of how foundations can use the “life cycle” approach to create and support efforts to strengthen the operations of nonprofit organizations. Publisher: Stagewise Enterprises, 1160 Tonkawa Road, Suite 15, Long Lake, Minn. 55356;
http://www.stagewiseenterprises.com; 140 pages; $34.95; ISBN 0-9717305-0-4 0971730504