Running a nonprofit today requires more than a commitment to a cause. Leaders must navigate funding uncertainty, rising demand for services, workforce pressures and the challenge of delivering lasting social impact with limited resources.
For Ryan Dewey Smith, CEO and Founder of Inperium, addressing these challenges requires a fundamental shift in how nonprofit organizations think about sustainability.
Smith believes that charitable giving, while essential, cannot be the sole foundation of a nonprofit’s long-term security. Instead, organizations need resilient operating models, diversified revenue streams and the infrastructure to manage change without losing sight of their mission.
Through Inperium, Smith champions a model that places operational strength and collaboration at the heart of nonprofit sustainability. By sharing essential capabilities, strengthening financial discipline and making strategic decisions around impact, nonprofit leaders can build organizations that are better equipped to serve their communities over time.
In this exclusive interview with CEO Official Magazine, Smith explores the leadership decisions shaping the future of the nonprofit sector. He also explains why measuring success must go beyond immediate outcomes to include the resilience and capacity needed to deliver on a mission for years to come.
Nonprofits are being asked to do more with less, while demand for their services continues to grow. How should CEOs decide what to protect, what to change and what to stop doing?
I would put all the key services on the table and scrutinize them individually. Who depends on it? What difference or impact does it make? What does it take, in money, staff time and infrastructure to deliver it well? The work that meets essential needs and produces meaningful results should be protected.
If a service matters but the way it is delivered is too costly or difficult to sustain, then look at changing the process, using technology or sharing support before cutting the service itself. And if an activity is no longer advancing the mission, you must be prepared to stop it. But understand who will be affected and what alternatives exist.
U.S. charitable giving reached a record $617 billion in 2025, yet many nonprofit leaders report greater difficulty securing funding and maintaining financial stability. If Americans are still giving at record levels, why are so many nonprofits struggling to feel financially secure?
American generosity is something we should all be proud of. But it is worth pointing out that a record for the country isn’t necessarily a record for every organization. The total combines giving across causes and recipients, but does not tell us whether a particular nonprofit attracted more support, or whether that support will continue next year. Nor does it tell us if the money is flexible enough to cover the organization’s most pressing needs.
There is also a difference between receiving a gift and having dependable operating revenue. A nonprofit still has to make payroll, maintain systems and meet growing needs when donations fluctuate or costs rise. And even generous funding can be hard to plan around if its timing or purpose does not match the work an organization must sustain.
In practice, the headline number does not prove that nonprofits are secure, because security requires more than just money. To be secure and sustainable organizations have to figure out how predictable their revenue is, how exposed they are to changes in funding, and whether they have the financial and operational strength to keep serving people through a difficult period.
At Inperium, we actually believe that the nonprofit sector cannot rely on charitable giving for sustainability. Because giving isn’t evenly distributed, larger organizations or more popular causes often attract bigger donations, while support for smaller or community-based organizations remains inconsistent. What these organizations really need is stronger operating model diversified revenue, shared infrastructure and scale to manage volatility. This is the very foundation of Inperium’s approach.
Nonprofit employees are facing burnout at the same time that organizations are struggling to maintain staffing levels. How can leaders build organizations that are financially disciplined without creating a workforce that is stretched beyond capacity?
You cannot build a sustainable organization on exhausted people. Leaders need to understand the real demands on employees and make sure staffing, tools and support match the work.
Better systems and shared administrative services can take some of the pressures off, but more importantly strong operational and financial discipline enable careful expansion of existing services and the rollout of new ones that do not place too much strain on the existing workforce.
There is growing interest in nonprofits sharing infrastructure, technology, administrative functions and even organizational capabilities. Where do you see collaboration creating the most value, and where can it go too far and compromise an organization’s identity or mission?
The greatest value is often in the capabilities that are essential but difficult for each organization to build or finance alone. For example, raising capital, implementing new technology, or having expert compliance or regulatory capacity. Sharing that expertise can strengthen the organizations doing the direct work and give its leaders more room to focus on services.
In my opinion, the line is crossed when collaboration starts to displace local judgement or weaken relationships that define an organization’s role in its community. Scale should strengthen an organization’s mission and identity, not flatten them.
The nonprofit sector has traditionally measured success through programs and people served. Should CEOs now be thinking more like business leaders and measuring organizational resilience, operational efficiency and long-term sustainability alongside social impact?
Yes, but those measures should serve the mission. Outcomes for people and community remain central, while financial stability, operational efficiency and workforce capacity help show whether the organization can keep delivering them.
A nonprofit’s mission is not enough to build organizational strength. That strength comes from creating the operational resilience and discipline that allows the mission to endure for the long term.