From “Donor Darling” To “Aid Graduate”: A Case Study of How One Non-Governmental Organizations Successfully Transitioned from Aid Dependency to Organizational Sustainability

This project addresses the need for organizational sustainability in the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector. The project includes an analysis of The Competitiveness Company (TCC), a small Jamaican NGO that completed a sizeable donor-funded project in 2014 and successfully transitioned to income generation in 2014, producing organizational sustainability. A pre-award survey conducted on TCC in 2010 was reviewed to understand the organization’s strengths and the capacity development strategies. A qualitative, facilitated self-assessment tool was used to appraise TCC’s current capacity. Two key findings are highlighted: 1) ongoing assessment and learning is integral to being a healthy organization, and 2) the assessment process is one way in which NGOs can develop organizational capacity, most critical of which is financial capacity.