Along with the concept that funders will want to see the bigger picture social change work, they will also be focusing much more on serious sustainability plans than ever before. Filling that blank that asks for sustainability plan will be almost (if not more) important than the project design. It will no longer work to say “we will look for continued funding” to keep the project going. With that in mind, nonprofits have a little more work to do now before they apply for grant funding.

I also want to point out how excited I am about the shift in recognizing the importance of general funding for savvy administration and would like to see every grant funder require a line item in the proposed budget that is designated for emergency financial reserves until the organization can show a reserve of 4-6 months of operating expenses. This is truly getting down to operating outside the insolvency zone as any stable business would do. What are your thoughts on nonprofit leaders being more business savvy?

I would like to invite you and your readers to visit and consider joining the International Association of Professional Nonprofit Directors (www.IAPND.org) where conversations such as these can tackle the issues plaguing the nonprofit sector.

Shawn (Marie) Paul is the Founder and President of IAPND and The Break Away Group, LLC as well as the author of Life in Motion, a leadership development book.

My company, Fundly, has a Facebook app that solicits small donations and makes donations social. You can get those $20 donations that aren’t worth it in the larger fundraising scene. I like to think of it as taking advantage of the “Long Tail” of donations.

That’s my two cents. Social fundraising is a big trend to watch.

This is how the nonprofits will gain a reputation to the community at large and remove from the silo effect that has been established so far. Meaning that, till today usually nonprofit organizations serve only their own purposes and don’t cooperate with other nonprfits of other functions, as if they function within silos. For example, environmental organizations could partner with human rights orgs and culture orgs, forming thus a very powerful alliance for a common purpose. Why not?

One move to that direction has been attempted by http://www.flowmagazine.gr, which presents the work of selected NGO’s globally, from all functions, as a means to promote social solidarity and volunteerism to the public at large.

I truly hope that 2011 will be the year of transformation for NGO’s, in which they will substantially create change!

Nonprofits are like businesses in many ways, including the need to invest in infrastructure in order to thrive and the need to have a solid funding base for its core services.