Blog
Our New Years Resolutions: Sustainability, Renewal, and Growth
December 29, 2016
On that vein, I've been thinking a lot about sustainability, especially the sustainability of a movement such as PowerHouse Montana. In the nonprofit sector, sustainable capacity building is constantly at the forefront of what we do in order to make our donated and granted funds go as far as possible. As an AmeriCorps VISTA, my mission and purpose is to work myself out of a job. I’m starting to realize that sustainability takes a lot of work.
The Council of Nonprofits defines sustainability as an organization's ability to fulfill the mission over the long term with few resources. But the nonprofit definition of sustainability is dull and incomplete. It might be the end goal, but the question is, "how?" Part of making anything sustainable, including grassroots initiatives such as PowerHouse Montana, is to make sure the energy behind it is renewable and the people resilient. PowerHouse Montana, like any nonprofit initiative, takes a village to execute, and a good portion of that village is volunteers. Yes, nonprofits, including ours, are pinching pennies, but the resources we have in abundance are relationships, and the spirit of all of us reaching success, together.
We’ve been fortunate to create many relationships with PowerHouse women (and men) since its launch and these relationships are what have grown the PowerHouse to the force that it is today. My hope is that this growth is long-term and impactful for those who fight the good fight for gender equity in the workplace and believe in supporting the advancement of women’s economic opportunity. By continuing to build stronger, more efficient networks and paying it forward to other women, we are creating a renewable form of sustainability that is far more efficient than an action plan alone.![](http://www.powerhousemt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Mentor-Monday-1-300x225.jpg)