This was a question I posed to a group during a recent presentation about nonprofit sustainability. I heard the responses you would expect to hear: 1) because the programming is how the mission gets fulfilled. 2) because that is what people are most passionate about. 3) because it is the work that gets done on a regular basis. While all of the above are correct, one response was glaringly missing from the 12-15 in attendance... Nonprofits tend to be really skilled at programming because grant funders require it. We know most grants fund programming, and where money flows, so does attention, focus and execution. As a sector, we didn't accidentally become good at programming. Our revenue model trained us to become good at it. It makes me wonder, what might happen if we brought that same urgency, discipline and attention to building earned revenue? I believe it is likely that we would become really skilled at that too, over time. 🤔