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Business Model Bright Spot: Turning a Core Competence into Reliable Earned Revenue

Jeanne Bell
May 10, 2019
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Following NPQ’s highly successful Mastering the Business Model series last year, this year we are highlighting business-model bright spots to show what mastering a business model looks like in practice. This complementary webinar series focuses on groups who have done something purposeful and special to strengthen their business models. These are stories we can all learn from, full of replicable strategies and cautionary guidance.

The first bright spot focuses on earned revenue. In 2013, Pollen, a nonprofit media arts organization, went from an all-volunteer, zero-budget organization to receiving a multi-year, unrestricted operating grant. The organization had three years to develop a business model, diversify revenue, and grow toward financial stability. In 2018, they launched their social enterprise, Pollen Studio, which brings their core expertise of narrative storytelling to other mission-driving organizations. In just five years, Pollen was able to pivot from a single-source revenue pie chart to seven compatible revenue streams—with 70 percent of all revenue being earned.

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About the author
Jeanne Bell

Jeanne Bell, MNA is the former CEO of CompassPoint, where she stewarded the evolution of the organization to focus on emerging leaders and emergent leadership practice with an explicit orientation to social change. She is the author of numerous articles on nonprofit leadership, strategy, and sustainability and co-author of several books, including most recently, The Sustainability Mindset (Jossey-Bass, 2015). Jeanne's current board service includes Borealis Philanthropy and Community Works West. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Master of Nonprofit Administration program at the University of San Francisco's School of Management.

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