5 New Year’s Resolutions for Sustainable Nonprofits

Hello 2019! With a new year comes a fresh start – an opportunity to set financial and organizational goals. What’s better than starting with a clean slate?  For next year, I encourage YOU, a change-making social impact leader to focus on financial sustainability.
 
Think about it from another perspective. Your benefactors are supporting your mission today, and in their eyes, to infinity and beyond. It’s vital to leverage every single dollar your organization brings in and become true stewards of the resources you already have. A monumental task? Yes, it is! Highly detail oriented? You better be! A long-term outlook? Time to adopt one! In the spirit of supporting your sustainability, here are 5 New Year’s resolutions for leaders of sustainable organizations:

• Start Utilizing Financial Dashboards: We Use Them!
  • A picture says a thousand words, and so do financial dashboards! Don’t bury your board members in pages and pages of financial statements. Why not used a condensed, visually-appealing, easy-to-read, informational, one-page snapshot of financial data? It’s like an infographic showing your organization’s financial performance and health.  Save time. Initiate data driven decision making. Quickly identify financial problems. Reinforce board oversight. The benefits of financial dashboards are abundant. Check out 10 Common Benefits of Dashboard Reports by BoardSource and tell me you’re not convinced.
• Multi-Year Budgeting is a Must
  • Do you want your organization to be thriving in five years?  Then it’s time to start long-term planning now. Nope, not the typical vague, text-heavy, idealistic strategic plan. We’re talking about an operational plan with benchmarks, metrics, checkpoints, trend analysis, economic forecasting, etc. If your organization receives money from grants, what does the future of grant funding look like? Will you hire a new bookkeeper or other staff member, or outsource some future operations? What decisions will you make this year that will significantly affect your organization over five years?
• Understand the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle & Avoid at All Costs
  • According to the Council of Nonprofits the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle is, “When a nonprofit is always catching up, but never has enough resources to cover its costs AND invest in its own infrastructure.” Does this sound familiar? Do you and your board have recurring, agonizing conversations about becoming a proactive, rather than reactive organization? At Blue Fox, we believe that you can break the cycle with deep financial knowledge that empowers you to truly leverage your resources and create accurate strategic and financial forecasts.  If you’re stuck in this rut, call us to help!
• Let Actionable Financial Data Lead Decision Making
  • Picture this: you’re called into an impromptu brainstorming meeting with your team to discuss a new partnership program. What do you bring? A pen? A pad? What else? Anything?  How about your financial statements? And, maybe your latest program profit and loss statement. At Blue Fox, we deliver actionable financial data to our clients because we believe that the topic of finance is critical to decision making if organizations are to be sustainable in the long-term. 
• Can you say Operating Reserves Policy?
  • Rainy day fund. Emergency fund. Hurricane fund as we say in Florida (ha-ha). Call your operating reserves what you will, but plan for its funding and use too. How much should you allocate per year? Are any of the funds restricted? What constitutes a withdrawal? Answering these questions in advance is a must! If you don’t have an operating reserves policy, round up your team and start writing. Find additional information and samples by Propel Nonprofits.

Our team at Blue Fox provides customized, boutique financial and back office services for social impact organizations. Services range from standard bookkeeping and payroll services, to coaching and consulting, to full-blown virtual CFO services. Our mission is to disrupt the traditional accounting model through technology, innovation, and a radically client-focused approach that truly empowers nonprofits and social enterprises. For more information call (321) 233-3311, email [email protected], and visit www.YourBlueFox.com.
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Author:  Founder & CEO, the Original Blue Fox, Chantal Sheehan, MS, CFP(r)
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Resources:
BoardSource, 10 Common Benefits of Dashboard Reports
National Council of Nonprofits, Nonprofit Sustainability
Propel Nonprofits, Operating Reserves with Nonprofit Policy Examples
Stanford Social Innovation Review, Building Financially Resilient Nonprofits: Lessons From the Field

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