By Louisa Hackett - CRE recognizes nonprofit organizations are engines of social change and often the most proximate means for disenfranchised people to access needed services. We believe our consulting services can make New York City’s nonprofit organizations stronger and more effective in fighting poverty and advancing social justice. Our theory of change is grounded in the belief that organizations with effective leaders and programs, high performing staff and financial strength are more likely to be successful in creating a more fair and just New York City.
CRE defines financial strength as the ability to leverage and align resources to produce results. To help organizations become financially stronger, CRE assists our clients to:
- figure out where they stand financially;
- use financial information to make management and/or strategic decisions;
- live within their means; and
- secure and manage funding through a collaborative effort of development, program and financial staff.
CRE believes that effective financial management is:
- A critical aspect of any organization, large or small.
- A collaborative effort rather than the work of an isolated few. This collaboration involves board and management but also requires the participation of staff that bring different perspectives – finance and, where appropriate, development and program.
- An ongoing focus – not a sporadic endeavor at certain points in the year, such as when the organizational budget or key grant reports are due, or during crises.
- Not inherently hard; it is CRE’s role to help demystify, clarify, and simplify it for our clients.
Going into financial management client engagements, we keep in mind that:
- Some nonprofit leaders feel ill-equipped and untrained in fiscal matters; we see this as an opportunity to build the capacity of these leaders to fully and confidently engage in an area critical to their organizations’ success and their own professional development.
- A client’s practices around financial management can provide us with important clues about other areas – such as board-staff relations, inter-staff relations, the strength of organizational systems, and the organization’s orientation towards decision making.
- Much of financial management is about accessing information. If a client struggles to generate basic data – a balance sheet or a prior-year financial audit, as examples – it may be a sign of deeper issues.
- Clients are sometimes guarded about sharing information on their finances – for fear of seeming unknowledgeable, incompetent, and unorganized. While we must have certain key information to move the work forward, we acknowledge that building rapport and trust may help mediate this.
Subscribe via RSS feed 
Comments
Post has no comments.