How does C4L support itself as a nonprofit?

C4L tries to maintain its own baseline income, in such a way that private donations and grants add value.  This is because donations and grant funding are somewhat unpredictable, although they bring in bigger volumes overall.

Multiple income streams

In South Africa, nonprofits are constantly being challenged to look for “social enterprises” to generate some of their own income.  Here are some ways that we try to do this:

Project management – design and administration of “bulk” training projects

• Selling our print-media publications (training tools and books)
• Selling thematic calendars (African heroes of faith)
• Motivational speaking engagements
• Growing spinach trees to sell the leaves
• Growing other succulents like spekboom and prickly pear
• Growing mother plants for community outreach like Vetiver grass for erosion control

The proportions vary from year to year. This website starts at this level of self-support and then goes on to outline outreach programming

Publications

Contact C4L for a list of its manuals, training videos and books.

The 80/20 Rule

Nonprofits learn that they put in 80 percent of the effort to raise 20 percent of the funding.

Relatively speaking, the big grants of funding dwarf the baseline of self-generated income, but this 80 percent of the income is not regular or reliable. They are two kinds of income that complement one another.

So C4L places high value on the trickle of income from its own campus activities.  These are relatively small, but they help to keep us sustainable.