Sustaining the Mission - by Ryan Dewey Smith (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Strengthen Your Organization. Protect Your Mission. Expand Your Impact.

Nonprofits are built on passion and purpose--but too many struggle to survive under financial strain, administrative burdens, and rising costs.

In Sustaining the Mission: Building a Billion-Dollar Nonprofit Network by Rewriting the Rules of Partnership, Ryan Dewey Smith reveals a proven path to lasting sustainability. By developing Inperium's groundbreaking affiliation model, he demonstrates how organizations can preserve independence while gaining the efficiencies and financial strength of a larger enterprise.

Readers will discover:

• How to protect organizational identity while scaling services
• Ways to access capital and stabilize finances
• Strategies to reduce administrative burdens
• A model for long-term growth without sacrificing mission

Practical and inspiring, Sustaining the Mission offers nonprofit leaders, philanthropists, and board members the tools to build enduring impact.

Review Quotes

"In fifty years working across the nonprofit sector, I've never encountered a book with this level of operational transparency and strategic clarity. Ryan Dewey Smith documents a genuinely innovative approach to organizational sustainability with unprecedented honesty: real organizations, actual financial outcomes, and the intellectual courage to share both successes and failures. This is the rare book that nonprofit CEOs and boards will reference for years as they navigate the structural challenges reshaping human services."
-- Denver Frederick
Host, The Business of Giving

"Ryan Dewey Smith captures the essential problem common to human service providers--the belief that hope alone will carry them through crisis. His approach is honest and bold as he presents the conversation many providers find uncomfortable to embrace: the need to create financial stability to accomplish mission. We overuse the term "thinking outside the box," yet the Inperium model Ryan has developed accomplishes just that ... an alternative business strategy utilizing unique approaches that challenge the reader to rethink long-held assumptions."
-- Richard S. Edley, PhD
President & CEO, RCPA

"Ryan Dewey Smith demonstrates that building durable human service organizations at scale requires discipline, structure, and far more than good intentions."
-- Jeffrey Sachs
CEO, The Sachs Policy Group

"At a moment when the organizations we depend on--from farms to hospitals to nonprofits--are under pressure from every direction, Ryan Dewey Smith offers something rare: a proven model for how mission-driven organizations not only survive--but thrive. Sustaining the Mission is essential reading for any leader building something that matters."
-- Tyler Dickerhoof
Author, The Things We Hide; speaker, podcast host, and leadership mentor

"I have raised capital for hundreds of not-for-profit organizations over the past twenty-five years. The most successful organizations are mission-focused with an emphasis on financial discipline, creating scale, and access to capital. In Sustaining the Mission, Ryan Dewey Smith captures these principles perfectly and outlines a replicable road-map for other not-for-profits to follow."
-- Zachary K. Kau
Managing Director, Cain Brothers

"The emphasis on the value of shared resources is compelling. In an environment where organizations are often overly dependent on government funding, operate with narrow margins, and have limited payer diversity, the model makes strong practical sense and is likely to resonate with organizations struggling to sustain their missions year to year -- or in some cases, month to month . . . [Ryan's] description of the challenges he faced . . . highlighted his leadership skills, but not without acknowledging mistakes . . . I found the book informative and very supportive of the Inperium affiliation model and Ryan's qualities as an impressive leader and innovator."
-- Dan Shine
Human Service Consultant

"[Sustaining the Mission] details the journey of taking an idea/concept that is typically applied in the for-profit sector and tailoring it to the mission of a nonprofit . . . There were detailed/specific operational realities used throughout, but had authentic components that I enjoyed . . . Autonomy vs. independence [is] a useful tool for boards considering affiliation without feeling 'consumed' . . . If an organization fails it doesn't just end the organization, the impact is felt even more so to the people it serves . . . The book is practical, but I found it engaging and entertaining. Real world application and execution of a model that creates organizational sustainability."
-- Joshua Hocker
EVP & Market President, Orrstown Bank

"This book reads as an entrepreneur's memoir within the nonprofit sector . . . demonstrating that nonprofit work requires the same strategic thinking, business acumen, and adaptive leadership as any entrepreneurial venture, while maintaining fidelity to mission and the people served . . . [Sustaining the Mission] demonstrates that affiliation, network models, and strategic partnerships offer viable alternatives to struggling alone or closing doors. The combination of personal narrative, operational wisdom, and real-world examples makes complex concepts accessible and actionable."
-- Mollie Ewing
CEO, CFS, Corp.

About the Author

RYAN DEWEY SMITH, CEO of Inperium, lives on Johns Island, South Carolina, and leads one of the nation's largest nonprofit networks.