FROM THE ARCHIVES
Revenue is so unstable in these times, it’s especially important to monitor your cash flow. Author Murray Dropkin offers a complete refresher on how to budget a surplus, establish policies and train your staff with such fiscal sense in mind. People with less experience in this area or smaller organizations might find this especially helpful.
How should foundations understand their charitable missions in hard economic times? Should they increase their payout in response to dire and immediate local circumstances, or focus on asset-building and maintenance in anticipation of future need? NPQ asked three foundation executives for their insights into grant levels, funding emphases and policy advocacy.
With the recent proliferation of new small foundations, we asked Charles Scott, former CEO of the Association for Small Foundations, to advise how to develop fundraising relationships with this community. Take note, it’s quite different from large foundations.
“Visitor traffic can be a treasure trove of information about the usage patterns of a Web site,” says Internet strategist Michael Stein. The trick is in how to tease enough meaning from this mountain of raw data to make the most from your Internet presence.
Budget shortfalls are imposing new burdens (and casualties) on nonprofits already hard-pressed to find ways of doing more with less…and even less. Does the charitable mission of nonprofits also carry an implicit obligation to bring a deeper sense of compassion to decisions about staff layoffs?
Who speaks for democracy today? Scott Harshbarger, former attorney general of Massachusetts, maintains that the nonprofit sector has a unique and vital role to play in preserving democratic institutions.
Could a $1 million challenge grant be a bad idea? If your organization isn’t staffed to raise the match, or if the grant comes with too many restrictions, it could do more harm than good. Understanding your capital structure is key to making wise decisions about any major change to your balance sheet. Clara Miller explains the elements of capital structure and why this often-overlooked element of financial planning deserves greater attention.
Boards of directors frequently confront a host of conflicting demands and obligations, each requiring its own distinct response. The Competing Values Framework introduced by the authors clarifies these demands and provides cues for choosing an appropriate response.
Legendary humorist Rube Goldberg rates an individual entry in Webster’s New World Collegiate Dictionary (4th Edition): “U.S. cartoonist of comically involved contrivances; designating any very complicated invention, machine, scheme, etc., laboriously contrived to perform a seemingly simple operation.” One of our favorite Goldberg “inventions,” a Modest Mosquito-bite Scratcher, is a device employing springs, levers, an
In a frank and clearheaded introduction to this issue, the authors explore the economic challenges that lie ahead and offer guidance for negotiating the various conundrums of nonprofit financial structures.
The complexities of our financial systems derive from the distinctive nature of the nonprofit market–its cost and revenue structures, its limited access to capital, and the fact that nonprofits often serve dual buyers (funders and constituents). Sound financial management must take this unique market into account.
Author Mark A. Hager presents a detailed examination of how U.S. nonprofits are reporting–and often underreporting–grant proposal writing expenses, arguing that a more accurate accounting would benefit both individual organizations and the sector as a whole.