Finance for Nonprofits: The art of managing more with less in 2019

It is a common belief that maintaining nonprofits is an easy task because they are exempted from paying taxes to the government and they don’t have to make any profit. Well, that is an assumption quite far from the truth. What people often forget is that nonprofits are businesses too, they are constantly in need for money to fund their causes and they have to pay their qualified employees as well. Every year, new projects come on board, and with that comes the need for finance. So, how do nonprofits go about maintaining financial sustainability this year? Let’s have a look at a few ways through which this can be achieved.

Budgeting

To ensure well management, it is crucial to plan ahead and regular review of financial status of the organization is a must. This is exactly why budgeting should be made a priority; a budget acts as the quintessential guide for nonprofits to have a clear understanding of their current financial status and it enables them to plan better for the future.  The initial planning is mostly done by the staff which gets reviewed and finalized by the board members.

The Pro Bono trend

The term “Pro Bono” makes a lot of people think that it only has to do with legal activities. But it isn’t limited to getting free legal help or assistance; Pro Bono can be in the form of other skills and services too. There are a lot of skills that nonprofits hire, for example graphic designing and content writing; you can ask your skilled volunteers to provide you with their service.

The Buddy system

You can always ask your family and friends to contribute to event organization and management of your nonprofit. Instead of investing on influencers, you can always have your “buddies” share posts about your cause and help you promote your charity on social media. At GiveCentral, we believe that the buddy system can also work between two nonprofits, where grants from the same source can be made a possibility.

Cross train your staff

Nonprofits do not have to have many employees, fundraising results can be perfected using few employees that are well trained across many fields. Nonprofits should opt for staff and volunteers who can don many hats; this will help in increasing the versatility of the entire office and will save you a lot of hiring charges.

To end with, it is completely fair for nonprofits to make profits. It might seem unusual but just like their for-profit counterparts, nonprofits can look for profits too. The belief that nonprofits should only aim at a break even budget is a myth. As a business, it is very important to own your own cost and be transparent about it.

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Last modified: January 28, 2019