New Sun Rising provides strategic processes, vital services, and accessible funding to power civic innovation from idea to impact.

Although social and economic inequities persisted prior to COVID-19, the extent of these differences and their impact on the quality of life of vulnerable populations has been elevated during the pandemic. Nonprofits and small businesses continue to operate on the front line of these challenges. Not only are they expected to meet the urgent, critical needs of their community – but also must consider their role in redesigning systems towards a more equitable and sustainable future.

New Sun Rising believes that building vibrant communities is best achieved through a triple-bottom line approach to development: Strengthening Culture, Promoting Environmental Sustainability, and Creating Economic Opportunity.  By utilizing our core strengths in Capacity Building, Accessible Funding, and Data Management, New Sun Rising helps organizations, collaboratives, communities, and philanthropic partners to build resilience and organize their power during this time of transition.

VIBRANT COMMUNITIES FRAMEWORK

Since 2005, New Sun Rising has supported communities to organize their resources and build capacity towards shared goals.  Through over a decade of practical experience learned by running these social experiments we realize that far too often, community economic development initiatives are planned and implemented without respect to the development stage (readiness or capacity) of the people who make up the community itself.  In order to build a replicable and scalable field of practice, NSR identified 18 best practice strategies designed to build community power across three phases of development: Ignite, Launch, and Grow. The Vibrant Communities Framework is now being used by a diverse and growing set of community leaders to strengthen their connectivity and inspire a commitment towards action.

Learn about the Vibrant Communities Framework

CAPACITY BUILDING

The people most affected by the challenges of our time – poverty, climate change, education – are too often expected to solve them by using the least amount of available resources. This burden can be transferred into opportunity when organizations build their own capacity to both lead and benefit from the community changes they wish to see.  New Sun Rising provides capacity building to over 150 leaders annually through cohorts like the Nonprofit Resilience Program, professional support services, and fiscal sponsorship. We take a wholistic and human centered approach by meeting people where they are at, understanding each leader’s definition of success, and recognizing the relationship between staff and organizational wellbeing. NSR utilizes the Organizational Assessment Tool (OAT) survey to identify weaknesses and guide strategies to improve them within the domains of Planning, Resources, Connectivity, and Identity.

ACCESSIBLE FUNDING

Many nonprofits, small businesses, and collaboratives lack the financial capital necessary to ignite, launch, and grow their impact: especially those who are representative of – or serve – disinvested communities. To make funding more accessible, New Sun Rising administers the Vibrancy Funds: an integrated capital program which utilizes grants, loans, awards, equity, credit enhancement, and technical assistance. Since 2009, NSR has invested over $6.5 million to make progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more about our underwriting framework and history of investment here.

View the Vibrancy Funds Dashboard

DATA MANAGEMENT

Sectors including the for profit market have shown that you can scale impact by utilizing data and building mutually beneficial relationships with other organizations.  While research has demonstrated that social sector leaders who prioritize data have stronger operations and outcomes, our own Nonprofit Data Collection & Evaluation Survey uncovered just how challenging it is for them to put this theory into practice.  New Sun Rising believes that all organizations and communities should have access to the information and tools necessary to succeed. Through Power in Numbers, we provide technical assistance and user-friendly data management technology. The initiative makes it easier to effectively collect, analyze, report, and collaborate using data organized by the common language of the Sustainable Development Goals. Power in Numbers combines data science and storytelling advocacy to promote collaborative impact regardless of sector, size, or geography.

Explore the Vibrancy Index