Business:
Introduction
Leadership Foundation has been profitable, from the formation time in 2008, all the profits have been reinvested back to the organization. However, how to secure long-term and sustainable funding is a very important issue to be considered so as to ensure the sustainability of the organization in future. Being a social engineering organization, the organization can initiate some strategies to attract long-term sustainable funding by engaging in alternative projects to sustain the foundation. By adopting all these new strategies, the Leadership Foundation shall focus on leading the way to diversify their programs so as to serve concerned individuals, companies and the Norwegian society at large.
How to secure funding
There are measures that the leadership foundation can take to ensure that there is a steady flow of funding in the future. The strategies can range from lobbying the government for sustained funding to investing profits in rewarding investments with high returns (Young, Dennis, Robert &Virginia 1993, 89-90)
The Leadership Foundation can lobby the government (through the relevant government portfolio that deals with social affairs) to secure them funding that can be budgeted for in the national budget. Young, Dennis, Hobert and Virginia in their book, new insights from research and practice, stated that this can be achieved through lobbying. The leadership foundation can, therefore, appoint lobbyists to petition the national parliament to pass legislations that assign the government with the responsibility of funding the organization given its role in society of creating cohesion, integration and overall welfare development in the country. Government funding has been proved to be the most sustainable source of long-term funding for non-profitable organizations (Young et al. 1993, 89-90).This, therefore, calls for more efforts in service delivery so that the foundation can acquire projects on State budgets and be able to consequently command media attention.
Additionally, by engaging in national projects, the Leadership Foundation would appeal to the general public, and various long term sponsors about the relevance of their programs in national cohesion and social integration as well as national security and overall welfare improvement of everybody in the country (United Nations 1969, A79).
The leadership foundation is concerned with improving the welfare of people from diverse cultures. Since Norway is a homogenous society, it is obvious that the bulk of the diverse minority individuals are asylum seekers or refugees from war-torn countries of the world. Since the United Nations and the European Union have been assisting these people, it would be very strategic for the foundation to partner with these agencies so as to be the agents of these organizations in looking after the affairs of asylum seekers in the country. As the asylum seekers are usually here to stay in the country; and wars, famine, need for labor and human tragedy will always be likely to occur, this would be a sure way to ensure long-term funding for the foundation as there will always be social programs to engineer. However, this calls for expansion of the foundation and strong government support (Young et al. 1993, 34). This also calls for more concerted efforts in building strong international networks through having media and state attention.
As it has been previously suggested, the name of the organization does not reflect the mission of the organization, and therefore most individuals do not understand the nature of the foundation’s programs. Branding of the organization would involve the change of the name from the ‘leadership’ sounding name (that is vague in detailing the purpose of the foundation) to a name that suggests social engineering programs that are aimed at achieving diversity and social inclusion in all institutions of the nation. Although this strategy sounds rewarding, it should be implemented with caution because the rebranding might fail to achieve positive public reception as human beings naturally detest changes (United Nations 1969, 89). On the worst case scenario, losses suffered in the short run due to inconsistencies might be difficult to be recovered later in the cycle of long-term operation.
There should be thorough studies to ensure that the program would be successful in the feature where the possible sponsors will be able to identify with the organization and ensure a sustainable source of funding for the foundation (Krosinsky, Cary, Nick, and Stephen 2012, 124).
The Leadership Foundation has been having a policy of reinvesting all the profits back to the business. Though this aligns to the nonprofit orientation model of the organization, it is a risky affair that can be unsustainable if the organization can go to a sustained cycle of loss-making which is normal for most organizations. The organization can seek to invest their profits in rewarding and sustainable long-term rewards like investing in the property market, buying long-term government bonds and investing in trust funds from financial institutions. All these measures would see to it that the organization will always be assured of funding in the future for a very long time (Krosinsky et al. 2012, 237). The profits would also be diverted to insurance covers to cater for turbulent financial times of the organization. However, the insurance covers should be geared towards ensuring that there is always a reinstatement to the initial financial position in case a hazard that derails the existence of the organization occurs.
Drawing application on Equity financing, the organization can seek to gain sponsors’ confidence by avoidance of scandals like corruption allegations and scandals (Fahn, Matthias, Valeria, and Georg 2014, C4). This is because reputation is the most important asset of any organization. Equity financing will involve the organization identifying new programs and projects and convincing investors to be partners in the projects. These partners can range from past beneficiaries of the programs, celebrities, faith-based institutions, organizations willing to give back to the society and individuals and groups of goodwill. It is human nature to be concerned about the plight of others in the society, and many would wish to partner in these noble courses. With a SWOT strength in private and public sector credibility, seeking partners in the projects would be relatively easier, and the Leadership Foundation would be able to save much of the operation costs and save it for future sustainable financing.
The Leadership Foundation has a weakness of ‘application cycle dependency’. This means that the organization is usually without continuous activities until a social program that needs to be initiated or engineered comes up. This has resulted in a scenario where the organization employs few permanent employees, and the rest are put on hold until there is a call of duty. To reduce the frequency of these cycles, the organization can turn to alternative programs that might not be enshrined in their core mission and risks of being rendered obsolete can then emerge. This can affect any likelihood of long-term sustainable funding. To avert this weakness, it is very important for the organization to engage in additional purely social activities like educational forums, health sensitization, political lobbying or public sensitization on evils of social segregation and benefits of diversity in the country (Fahn et al. 2014, 71).
Globalization has been the key to long term securing of funds for many organizations of the leadership foundation’s nature. This is because, organizations that go global or regional can have access to a wider pool of funds in various countries and in so doing the application cycle will be made more predictable, regular and sustainable in the long term (United Nations 1969, 385). For instance, the European Union is grappling with the problem of integration of new immigrants to the society. This is because it is usually an uphill affair for local authorities to make the diverse immigrants and their hosts to live together in harmony. In the recent times, the wave of the current terror attacks in various parts of Europe like the Charlie Hebdo shootings of 2015 in Paris, France and The Brussels airport and subway terminus attacks early this year have been attributed to lack of social diversity in the European society. Immigrants are usually segregated therefore becoming disillusioned with the society. The subsequent frustration in life and anger breeds hatred and leads to terrorism.
Conclusion
Long-term funding is very crucial to the life of the Leadership Foundation in Norway. The major challenge is ensuring that the foundation’s long-term funding is sustainable as we are not confident enough on whether short-term funding will be available in the future. I strongly agree that the foundation is on the right path to acquiring a long-term sustainable funding given the strengths of the foundation which are:
Reputational and visibility- which ensures the foundation is well respected and highly relevant to the society.
Projects on the state budget,-this strength ensures that the state will always fund the foundation in the long run given that initial projects were highly successful.
Private and public sector credibility- also ensure that the foundation can acquire equity financing to sustain long-term funding.
Finally, media attention - is crucial in creating a public awareness and portraying the foundation in a positive light which ensures that the foundation always stays relevant to the nation.
I strongly believe that the foundation should focus on its mission and by implementing some of the strategies I have proposed to secure long-term sustainable funding. Caution should be taken to ensure that the organization does not deviate from its identity of being a social programs developer to a fund seeking organization as the mission is self-sustaining in itself with minimal alterations as I have proposed.
Uncertainties of securing long-term sustainable funding are usually a major concern to many organizations and institutions. Many foundations have been derailed from their path of success with time as they could not be able to acquire funding for their activities despite being stable financially at the initial stages. The success of the current strategies and the current financial stability situation can create an impression that this will always be the case. With the help of analytical skills and strategizing, the alternatives to securing long-term funding can increase the chances of securing long-term funding that is sustainable, and I hope to at least incite action through my paper.
I have learnt a lot and developed myself through my internship in the Leadership Foundation, and I hope my analysis will go a long way in ensuring there will be sustainable funding in the future. Leadership Foundation must be here to stay.
Reference List
Anderson, Stuart, 2010. Immigration. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.
http://ebooks.abc-clio.com/?isbn=9780313380297/
Fahn, Matthias, Valeria Merlo, and Georg Wamser. 2014. The commitment role of equity financing. Munich: CESifo.
Krosinsky, Cary, Nick Robins, and Stephen Viederman. 2012. Evolutions in Sustainable Investing strategies, funds & thought leadership. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=817379.
United Nations, 1969. Assistance for economic and social development available from the United Nations system; a handbook of criteria and procedures.
Young, Dennis R., Robert M. Hollister, and Virginia Ann Hodgkinson. 1993. Governing, leading and managing nonprofit organizations: new insights from research and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
