Need a Fresh Perspective on Sustainability?
Take a Life Stage Approach!

By Bryan Orander, Charitable Advisors

Have you noticed that the things that you did when you were 20 don’t interest you the same way at 40? Or that people you know with grown children lead different lives than parents with toddlers? Those differences are obvious to us – whether they impact housing, time for recreation or community involvement, financial resources, or a dozen other areas. We say that people are at different “stages” in their lives. So, if we are in our 30’s, we can look at people in their 40’s and begin to anticipate what our lives will be like. Or if our children are in grade school, we can see what the possibilities look like as empty nesters – Freedom.

Organizations have Life Stages too! You don’t need a crystal ball to predict many of the opportunities and issues that your arts organization will encounter in the years ahead. While you may have no control over the general economy and limited control over many things that happen in your community, you do have the ability to strengthen your organization to better accomplish its work. But a common question is… where do we start?

Life Stage theory says that the secret to building the enduring capacity of your organization is to maintain the balance between five key components. Programming, Management, Governance, Financial Resources, and Systems – think of it as a five-legged stool that can’t hold anything unless the legs are about the same length. Let’s face it – you went into the arts because you love the programming, not the management, or board meetings, or fundraising, or procedure manuals. That means that most arts organizations have programming that is way out ahead of the other key areas of the organization. Does that feel familiar?

What are the Benefits of a Life Stage Approach?

• Taking a clear look at where you are now in each area helps establish a starting point for developmental efforts.
• By understanding what comes next in each stage you can more easily anticipate, prepare, and understand what needs to take place.
• You spend less time trying to blame someone for the way something is working or not working and recognize that growing pains happen to every organization.
• Provides a framework to share your goals and progress with supporters and funders.
• Do a Quick Self-Assessment - Review this PowerPoint™ presentation on “Nonprofit Capacity and Life Stages” and see how you can place the evolution and growth, or the decline, of your organization in life stage terms.

Below, I have assembled a short list of Indiana-based and web resources that you might find helpful in the areas that tend to lag your programming efforts. You can also get a copy of Susan Kenney Stephens book Nonprofit Lifecycles.

Bryan Orander is President of Charitable Advisors and has been a full-time consultant with nonprofit organizations for 10 years. Charitable Advisors publishes the http://www.notforprofitnews.com/, a weekly e-newsletter with over 5600 subscribers in central Indiana plus board training materials at http://www.allaboutboards.com/

Edited by Robyn Kelly, Web Publications Manager: rkelly@iac.in.gov.
The IAC, a public catalyst, partner, and investor in the arts, serves the citizens of Indiana by funding, promoting, and expanding the arts. Funding is provided by the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.