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Praise for NONPROFIT SUSTAINABILITY "This is much more than a financial how-to book. It's a nonprofit's guide to empowerment. It demystifies mission impact and financial viability using The Matrix Map to provide strategic options for any organization. A must-read for every nonprofit CEO, CFO, and board member." —Julia A. McClendon, chief executive officer, YWCA Elgin, Illinois "This book should stay within easy reaching distance and end up completely dog-eared because it walks the reader through a practical but sometimes revelatory process of choosing the right mix of programs for mission impact and financial sustainability. Its use is a practice in which every nonprofit should engage its board once a year." —Ruth McCambridge, editor in chief, The Nonprofit Quarterly "Up until a few years ago, funding and managing a nonprofit was a bit like undertaking an ocean voyage. Now, it's akin to windsurfing—you must be nimble, prepared to maximize even the slightest breeze, and open to modifying your course at a moment's notice. Innovative executive directors or bold board members who want their organization to be able to ride the big waves of the new American economy must read this book." —Robert L. E. Egger, president, DC Central Kitchen/Campus Kitchens Project/V3 Campaign "Most nonprofits struggle to find a long-term sustainable business model that will enable them to deliver impact on their mission. Thanks to Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman help is now in sight. This book offers practical, concrete steps you can take to develop your own unique path to sustainability without compromising your mission." —Heather McLeod Grant, consultant, Monitor Institute, and author, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits "At last! An urgently needed framework to prepare leaders to meet head-on the persistent twin challenges of impact and sustainability. This is a practical tool based on good business principles that can bring boards and staff members together to lead their organizations to sustainable futures." —Nora Silver, adjunct professor and director, Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley "Together, Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman equal wisdom, experience, and know-how on sustainability and lots of other things. Buy, read, and learn from this terrific book!" —Clara Miller, president and CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund "Wisdom, experience, and know-how. Buy, read, and learn from this terrific book!" —Clara Miller, president and CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund

Essential tools and guidance for effective nonprofit financial management Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations provides students, professionals, and board members with a comprehensive reference for the field. Identifying key objectives and exploring current practices, this book offers practical guidance on all major aspects of nonprofit financial management. As nonprofit organizations fall under ever-increasing scrutiny and accountability, this book provides the essential knowledge and tools professional need to maintain a strong financial management system while serving the organization’s stated mission. Financial management, cash flow, and financial sustainability are perennial issues, and this book highlights the concepts, skills, and tools that help organizations address those issues. Clear guidance on analytics, reporting, investing, risk management, and more comprise a singular reference that nonprofit finance and accounting professionals and board members should keep within arm’s reach. Updated to reflect the post-recession reality and outlook for nonprofits, this new edition includes new examples, expanded tax-exempt financing material, and recession analysis that informs strategy going forward. Articulate the proper primary financial objective, target liquidity, and how it ensures financial health and sustainability Understand nonprofit financial practices, processes, and objectives Manage your organization’s resources in the context of its mission Delve into smart investing and risk management best practices Manage liquidity, reporting, cash and operating budgets, debt and other liabilities, IP, legal risk, internal controls and more Craft appropriate financial policies Although the U.S. economy has recovered, recovery has not addressed the systemic and perpetual funding challenges nonprofits face year after year. Despite positive indicators, many organizations remain hampered by pursuit of the wrong primary financial objective, insufficient funding and a lack of investment in long-term sustainability; in this climate, financial managers must stay up-to-date with the latest tools, practices, and regulations in order to serve their organization’s interests. Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations provides clear, in-depth reference and strategy for navigating the expanding financial management function.

A complete guide to the financial requirements a nonprofit organization must follow to indefinitely maintain the volume and quality of their services An organization may have plenty of capacity in the long run, but in the short run, donor restrictions and limited financing options are constraining. Here-and-now liquid assets are the only resources available. Finance Fundamentals for Nonprofits: Building Capacity and Sustainability shows how to measure a nonprofit organization's financial capacity in different time frames and how to measure its ability to sustain capacity in each case. Explains how nonprofits differ from businesses and how they promote values-centered management Reveals how to improve financial capacity and sustainability Written by a nonprofit scholar Filled with real-world case studies and actionable advice relating financial health to financial capacity and sustainability, this book is essential reading for every nonprofit professional.

The Matrix Map—a powerful tool for nonprofit strategic decision-making Nonprofit sustainability lies at the intersection of exceptional impact and financial viability. The Sustainability Mindset offers nonprofit professionals and board members a step-by-step guide to move your organization towards this intersection. As outlined in the bestselling book Nonprofit Sustainability, "The Matrix Map" is an accessible framework that combines financial and programmatic goals into an integrated strategy. In this next-step resource, the authors detail a rigorous process to develop a meaningful Matrix Map and engage leadership in setting an organization's strategy. Nonprofits that thrive in today's environment are adaptable with a clear understanding of their impact and business model. This book offers nonprofit boards and staff a framework to do so. Drawing on their in-depth experience, the authors provide an easy-to-follow process complete with tools and templates to help organizations visualize their business model and engage in strategic inquiry. The book provides a variety of illustrative examples to show how the Matrix Map works for all types of organizations. Nonprofit executives and board member are sure to benefit from The Matrix Map analysis. Offers step-by-step guidance for creating a Matrix-Map, a visual representation of an organization's business model Helps organizations assess how each of their programs contributes toward their desired impact and their financial bottom-line. Filled with compelling examples of how The Matrix Map helps nonprofits with strategic decision-making Written by the coauthors of the groundbreaking book Nonprofit Sustainability This comprehensive resource will give any nonprofit the framework they need to make decisions for sustainability and the templates and tools to implement it and help leaders address the challenges inherent in balancing mission impact with financial viability.

Nonprofits face a myriad of challenges in establishing and maintaining financial sustainability, and these challenges are exacerbated for nonprofits serving low-resources, high-need communities. This literature review identifies key themes and findings that may inform operations and decisionmaking related to improving sustainability in such organizations. The authors conducted systematic literature searches using a combination of academic search engines and the broader Internet. They identify and discuss key challenges of financial sustainability for nonprofits, such as over-reliance on external funding sources, demonstrating value and accountability to funders, and promoting community engagement and leadership, as well as promising practices for meeting these challenges and achieving financial sustainability. Additionally, the authors discuss unique challenges faced by nonprofits serving low-resources, high-need populations. It is the authors0́9 hope that this review will enhance the limited literature on financial sustainability in low-resource or high-need communities and will contribute to an evidence base for promising practices, providing leaders of and investors in nonprofits the ability to support and promote growth among organizations serving those most inneed.

Making sure that your nonprofit is going to be around long-term requires financial leadership. This means creating a financial vision for your organization and planning how you’ll get there. Financial Leadership for Nonprofit Executives gives you the framework, specific language, and processes to lead with confidence. With it, you’ll learn how to protect and grow the assets of your organization and accomplish as much mission as possible with those resources. The good news is you don’t have to be a trained accountant, earn an MBA, or have run a for-profit business in another lifetime. You already have many of the skills it takes to be a financial leader. This useful guide makes the process understandable and doable. You’ll find clear, logical steps to learn how to get accurate financial data—in a format you can understand; use financial data to evaluate your organization’s health; plan around a set of meaningful financial goals; and communicate progress on these goals to your staff, board, and external stakeholders. You’ll also find five foundational financial leadership principles; three overarching questions every financial leader needs to be able to answer (and where to find those answers); two fundamental budgeting principles; and five steps to building a strong annual budget. At the end of each chapter is an evaluation tool. You can rate how your organization is doing relative to the component of financial leadership covered in each chapter. Each attribute is scored as being red, yellow, or green. “Red” items are below standard and require immediate attention; “yellow” items are widely practiced though not generally ideal; and “green” items are considered best practice. Over time, as you and your partners on the board and staff move the organization toward “green” in each of these areas, you will create an environment in which financial leadership can flourish.

The Nonprofit Financial Sustainability Playbook is an essential guide for nonprofit organizations seeking to achieve long-term financial stability and resilience. This comprehensive playbook offers practical strategies, tools, and insights to help nonprofits navigate financial challenges, diversify revenue streams, and build a solid financial foundation. From budgeting and financial planning to fundraising, earned income strategies, and investment management, this playbook covers a wide range of topics essential for ensuring the financial health and sustainability of nonprofit organizations. Through real-world examples, case studies, and actionable advice, nonprofit leaders are empowered to make informed financial decisions, mitigate risks, and adapt to changing economic landscapes, ultimately enabling them to fulfill their mission and create lasting impact in their communities.

The financial issues of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have increased their importance in recent years, especially after the last global economic downturn. In this way, NPOs have been threatened by a reduction of income, while their work and expenses have not decreased. In this book, the editors bring together several topics that the academic literature has previously addressed, connecting them to each other and evaluating how all these issues are interrelated. Financing Nonprofit Organizations analyses the state of art of all these financial topics and the consequences of the last economic crisis. It dives into the interrelations of these concepts to suggest lines of future research and to reflect on the future of the different sources of funding of the NPOs. It will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers interested in initiating and updating their knowledge in the growing field of the financial aspects of the NPOs.

A complete guide to the financial requirements a nonprofit organization must follow to indefinitely maintain the volume and quality of their services An organization may have plenty of capacity in the long run, but in the short run, donor restrictions and limited financing options are constraining. Here-and-now liquid assets are the only resources available. Finance Fundamentals for Nonprofits: Building Capacity and Sustainability shows how to measure a nonprofit organization's financial capacity in different time frames and how to measure its ability to sustain capacity in each case. Explains how nonprofits differ from businesses and how they promote values-centered management Reveals how to improve financial capacity and sustainability Written by a nonprofit scholar Filled with real-world case studies and actionable advice relating financial health to financial capacity and sustainability, this book is essential reading for every nonprofit professional.