Will Black Says Nonprofits Need Another Revenue Lane. Forever Funding Is Building One

Will Black, founder of Forever Funding, which helps nonprofits create recurring revenue through merchant processing relationships

When Will Black talks to nonprofit leaders, he rarely hears that donations no longer matter. He hears something more practical: donations matter, grants matter, events matter, sponsors matter, but relying on the same few funding channels can make long-term planning fragile.

A strong campaign can help. A major donor can close a gap. A grant can fund an important program. But each source comes with its own timing, limits, and uncertainty. A nonprofit may look healthy from the outside while internally managing a revenue mix that depends heavily on one or two levers.

That is the problem Black says Forever Funding was built to address.

“Nonprofits are not looking to replace fundraising,” says Black, founder of Forever Funding. “They are looking for another lane. The strongest organizations have more than one way money can come in.”

The broader giving environment shows why that matters. U.S. charitable giving reached $592.5 billion in 2024, according to Giving USA, but the same report period still left many organizations navigating higher costs, public funding uncertainty, and donor behavior that can shift by category, cause, and economic mood.

What Black Sees On Nonprofit Calls

Black says nonprofit leaders often arrive with two competing instincts. They want new funding, but they are cautious of anything that sounds like another program to manage.

“They are not skeptical because they do not want innovation,” he says. “They are skeptical because they have been pitched too many ideas that add work. If a new funding model requires more staff, more events, or more administration, that is not really solving the problem.”

That distinction shapes how Forever Funding presents itself. The company is not trying to replace grants, donors, galas, or corporate sponsors. It is trying to add a separate funding lane tied to business relationships that many nonprofits already have.

In Black’s view, the opportunity is often sitting inside the organization’s existing network: board members who own companies, donors with businesses, long-time sponsors, local employers, restaurants, dealerships, clinics, and service providers.

“Most nonprofits have more business relationships than they realize,” he says. “The challenge is turning those relationships into something structured and repeatable.”

Why Revenue Concentration Becomes A Risk

Nonprofits are used to financial complexity. Unlike a traditional company, a nonprofit may receive money from individual donations, foundation grants, government contracts, corporate sponsorships, events, earned income, and program fees. The mix varies widely by organization type and size.

That variety can create strength, but concentration can create risk. The fundraising landscape shows that individual giving remains the largest source of charitable dollars, while foundations, bequests, and corporations make up smaller shares. For an individual nonprofit, however, the real question is not the national average. It is whether its own revenue is too dependent on one channel.

A delayed grant, a weaker event, or a sponsor budget cut can quickly become an operating problem.

Black says those moments are often when leaders begin thinking differently.

“Revenue diversity sounds boring until one source slows down,” he says. “Then it becomes the thing everyone wishes they had built earlier.”

Forever Funding’s Additional Lane

Forever Funding’s model is built around merchant processing relationships. Businesses already pay fees to accept card payments. When a participating business moves into a processor relationship connected to Forever Funding, a portion of processor profitability is shared with the nonprofit.

Consumers do not pay more. The merchant chooses to participate. The nonprofit receives funding connected to normal business activity.

For Black, the important part is where that funding sits inside the broader nonprofit picture. It is not a traditional donation appeal, a grant, or an event. Forever Funding describes it as a donation stream created through a processor relationship: money that would normally remain inside the payments system is instead directed to the nonprofit connected to the participating merchant.

That distinction matters for nonprofit leaders. The organization is not becoming a payments company and is not asking consumers for another gift. It is creating a business-linked funding channel that can sit beside grants, donors, sponsors, and events.

“We are not saying, ‘Stop fundraising,’” Black says. “We are saying, ‘Do not ask one or two sources to carry the whole mission.’”

The Execution Challenge

Black is also careful about who the model fits. Forever Funding works best, he says, when a nonprofit has real community relationships and is willing to make warm introductions.

That does not mean the nonprofit has to understand payments. Forever Funding says it handles the technical work, including fee analysis, onboarding, processor transition, account service, tracking, and reporting. The nonprofit’s role is relationship-based.

But the relationship piece still matters.

“This is not a money button,” Black says. “If an organization has no business relationships and does not want to make introductions, it will be harder. But if they have a board, sponsors, donors, or local partners, there is usually more opportunity than they think.”

That kind of expectation setting is part of what makes the model easier for nonprofit leaders to evaluate. It is not presented as a replacement for development work, but as a way to turn existing business relationships into a funding channel with a clear operational owner.

Building Around More Than One Source

Modern nonprofit finance is less about finding one perfect source of money and more about building a resilient mix. Grants can fund programs. Donors can support campaigns. Events can build community. Sponsors can create visibility. Earned income can add flexibility. Business-linked funding can create another layer.

Forever Funding is betting that merchant processing can become one of those layers for organizations with strong local networks.

“The organizations that last are usually the ones that build options before they need them,” Black says. “Another revenue lane gives leaders more room to plan, more room to respond, and less fear when one source changes.”

For nonprofits, that may be the real point of diversification. It is not about abandoning the old playbook. It is about refusing to let one part of the playbook carry the entire mission.