Creative Revenue Streams for Nonprofits

Healthy nonprofits are ones that seek and sustain multiple revenue streams. While donation revenue from individuals, major donors, and grants are the primary ways nonprofit organizations fund their missions, many also have passive or other creative streams of revenue.

In this blog, we’ll offer some ideas for putting a creative revenue stream in place. This shouldn’t ever take the place of your core development work, but rather, this should serve as a way to expand your audiences and increase your annual budget.

Things to Consider Before Starting

Before we dive in, know that researching, setting up, and sustaining these can take some time and effort.

👉 There are no shortcuts.
👉 Not every program will provide a return on investment that makes sense.
👉 Do your homework, know what your audiences will support, and plan carefully for promoting and communicating whatever creative revenue path you choose.

1. Matching Gifts

We often see nonprofits who do not take full advantage of matching gifts from their donors’ companies. This can often double or triple the gifts your donors are already making with almost no effort on your part.

✨ Key Tip: Often, donors don’t realize they work for a matching gift company. Be sure you’re asking those questions and educating your donor base about matching and not leaving that funding untapped.

2. Benefit Sales or Rentals

Consider the tangible products or property your nonprofit has in its orbit.

Some examples:

• 📖 Could your food pantry volunteers put a cookbook together whose proceeds benefit your mission?

• 🅿️ Is there a valet or other nearby company interested in renting your parking lot on weekends when it’s not in use?

• 🌱 Do you own land or other space that could produce a rental revenue stream when not being used for your mission?

⚠️ Research carefully—these ideas take manpower and effort to set yourself up for success, but they may be well worth it.

3. Partnerships

One of the most popular options is forming a partnership with a company that offers your nonprofit a portion of revenues.

Examples include:

• 🍽️ A restaurant chain giving your organization the proceeds from a night of sales in exchange for your promotion.

• ☕ A local coffee company or bakery producing a branded custom product whose sales help fund your mission.

• 🛒 Larger scale: a partnership with a company like +Shop, offering your audiences a way to fund your mission just through purchases they’d make anyway. (NPDNA has a partnership with +Shop, and you can learn more here.)

4. Affinity Programs

Affinity programs provide a portion of proceeds back to your organization through an ongoing relationship.

The most common are travel affinity programs:

• ✈️ You market a specific trip or suite of trips to your audiences.

• 🎟️ Once you hit your minimum number of travelers, the company provides a portion of proceeds back to your nonprofit.

• 🚢 Many affinity travel companies also offer a free voyage for a staff member or leader if you hit certain registration levels.

This creates a unique experience for donors while fueling your mission.

Final Thoughts

We don’t recommend you tackle multiple of these ideas. Instead:

• ✅ Narrow in on one or two possibilities.

• ✅ Research the pros and cons of any possible new program.

• ✅ Stay strategic and intentional in pursuing creative revenue streams.

Reach out if we can be of any help to you in sorting through options.

Tim Smith