Fall 2007
Assessing Fraud Risk
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The authors present questions that every organization should ask when determining fraud risk.
Nonprofit Management
Focus on the Core Business
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As sources of capital, funders can unintentionally contribute to the systematic under-capitalization of the sector–encouraging the growth of programs without providing for a commensurate growth in capacity. Clara Miller offers advice for reversing this trend.
Board Governance
Anti-Terrorism Strategy: Arrest First, Sort Out the Facts Later
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How many rights are Americans willing to forgo to feel safe? How are we to be safeguarded from mistakes or official abuse? The USA PATRIOT Act and PATRIOT-II are taking the answers out of our hands.
Policy & Government
From New Hampshire, “With Love and Comfort”
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Ellen Ahlgren never intended to launch a global phenomenon in community service learning. And thereby hangs the tale…
Nonprofit Management
Hidden in Plain Sight: Understanding Capital Structure
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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.
Board Governance
Making Good Board Choices: A Competing Values Approach
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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.
Nonprofit Management
Welcome | Spring 2003
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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 inebriated bluebird, and a cannon to soothe that annoying itch. There are times when developing a nonprofit organization’s budget is a little like creating a Rube Goldberg construct–picture a contraption able to juggle flaming torches, carving knives and bowling balls . . .
We hear a lot about nonprofits struggling to decide whether to fold or to carry on despite near-catastrophic funding situations. The thing about budget cuts is that they tend not to respect core programs and mission priorities.
Nonprofit Management
The Numbers Game: How Important Is It?
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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.
Nonprofit Management
In, but not Of, the Market: The Special Challenge of Nonprofit-ness
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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.
Nonprofit Management
Is Grant Proposal Writing a Fundraising Expense?
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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.