Non-Profit Budgeting: Handling Your Cash Flow

Unpredictable economic trends have caused nonprofit organizations to worry about meeting their financial obligations. As a non-profit leader, you can have the confidence to plan and take necessary actions by efficiently managing your cash flow.

Cash flow management is more than taking your annual budget and dividing by 12. Effective cash flow management includes analyzing cash inflow and outflows based on the timing of receipts and payments. For example, if your organization manages an annual convention, operational costs may increase during that month, as more staff may be necessary for the event. If your headquarters is located in an area that experiences extreme cold in the winter, costs for those months may increase as extra heating may be necessary.

If your current software does not have any budgeting or forecasting capabilities, you can create a report using a grid, such as Microsoft Excel to give you a visual idea of when you can expect cash inflow and outflow, and will help you predict cash flow more accurately in the future.

Read the full article and get more tips on managing cash flow.

FMI, contact By Steven K. Stucky, CPA; Partner, Sikich LLP. Steven can be reached at 317-842-4466 or sstucky@sikich.com.

Welcome Donor Path!

We are excited to have Donor Path join our sponsor team. Donor Path’s technology tools connect nonprofits, expert fundraisers and software to raise money for organization’s mission.

Simplify, Guidance and Tools to Raise More Money

Created in 2012 by a team of funders and fundraisers with the data from Compasspoint’s ‘UnderDeveloped Report,’ DonorPath is a platform that visualizes data and activities from a nonprofit’s fundraising software (even if just a spreadsheet) and matches organizations with a professional fundraiser to begin a monthly, virtual coaching partnership with one objective:  diversify revenue and raise more money for programming, not fundraising.

DonorPath is already being used by over 300 nonprofit organizations, nationally, who do not have the budget for a development officer or a consultant. For only $199 a month, organizations get a custom dashboard to manage fundraising activity; a library of sample fundraising documents; monthly reports to share with their board and funders; two, 30-minute Solution Sessions per month with their matched fundraising expert; and invitations to monthly meetups, “Performance Labs,” to network and share ideas.

With direct integrations with Quickbooks, Salesforce, and other fundraising softwares, DonorPath helps nonprofits align time, resources, and their boards around not only what works, but what needs to be done for organizations to reach their budgeted revenue goals – without increasing expenses.

You can contact Brian Lauterbach at 877-931-5501 or brian@donorpath.org.

Proposed Guidance for Tax-Exempt Social Welfare Organizations

Proposed Guidance for Tax-Exempt Social Welfare Organizations On November 29, 2013, the IRS released proposed regulations that provide guidance to tax-exempt social welfare organizations about political activities related to candidates that will not be considered to promote social welfare. Tax-exempt social welfare organizations are to be exclusively operated for the promotion of social welfare if they are intended to engage ?primarily? in activities that promote the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. Basically, the IRS proposes amending the current Treasury Regulations to state that social welfare does not include direct or indirect candidate-related political activity. Per IR-2013-92, candidate-related activity for purposes of 501(c)(4) organizations includes: Continue reading.

How Healthy is Your Nonprofit? Take an Organizational Snapshot - Foster Results

Do you know the true health of your nonprofit today? The beginning of a new year is always a good time to step back and take a panoramic look at your organization. If the picture you’re getting isn’t clear, it may be time to assess your internal processes.

Assessing Your Processes

Effective processes work to efficiently keep your organization on track to reaching overall goals while staying true to your nonprofit’s mission. Examine your daily processes honestly and ask yourself:

· Does this particular process help us reach our big picture goals?
· Does this process help streamline the organization?

After the Snapshot: Ongoing Measurement

Once you’ve taken a hard look at your nonprofit’s situation and streamlined your processes, you should be on your way to a healthier and more focused organization. However, it doesn’t stop there. It’s important to continually review your systems in order to make sure your processes stay effective.

Read the full article here.