How to Gain Fiscal Growth – A Guide to Strong Nonprofit Financial Leadership

by | Apr 26, 2017

Growing in financial confidence continues with a look at financial growth, the goal of every nonprofit. Does your organization have a successful program that produces positive results? Why not replicate that for growth?

Steps to help your nonprofit gain fiscal growth

NFP Partners offers a guide to help your nonprofit gain fiscal growth The important thing here is to maintain quality when replicating. You can do so by allocating adequate staff and leadership. Additionally, narrow Board involvement and making sure to track programmatic and financial performance. How about creating a simple funding growth model that is aside from your programs and the money those bring in? This model could be used for general donations. In return,  this could support your general operations. Some studies talk about diversification. More specifically, how it’s good to have different streams of revenue in case certain types of donors become burnt out from giving to your cause. However, most of the large, successful nonprofits focus on one type. This keeps it simple and focuses your revenue sources around a specific type. I found a really great article that states “when nonprofits and funding sources are not well matched, money doesn’t flow to the areas where it will do the greatest good.” So, why not a simple funding model, one that you know a specific group of funders will donate to when they see fit? As your nonprofit pursues growth, find which sources are promising and focus your fundraising efforts around that source. We plan for reaching our goal but it’s also important to be aware of the “fiscal cliff.” It’s really critical to track your spending and monitor your revenues coming in. If issues arise, makes changes early on rather than waiting until it’s too late. It’s easier to take away unnecessary expenses early on instead of having to cut back valuable staff down the road in order to save money. Happy planning, Laura Jorstad Managing Principal