February 2015: How to Think about Capitalization for Nonprofits of Every Size

February 2015 Meeting: How to Think about Capitalization for Nonprofits of Every Size

Beth Doreian, Senior Associate at the Boston office of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, gave a presentation on the topic of capitalization. Prior to NFF, Beth was Director of Finance and Administration at Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development and Controller at Root Capital. Board members and management toss around terms like operating reserves and cash reserves and there is not always consensus on what is meant. How much is enough? How do you figure out how much is enough? What do you count toward operating reserves, anyway? Are your operating reserves reported on regularly on the balance sheet as a separate item? And for those lucky enough to have this problem, how much is too much?
Beth addressed some of those questions.

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November 2014: How to Get Your Board “Onboard” with Non-Profit Finances

November 2014 Meeting: How to Get Your Board “Onboard” with Non-Profit Finances

Typically most nonprofit board members do not have a background in finance and those who do usually come from the for-profit world. This puts nonprofit CFOs in the position of having to explain nonprofit financial statements in terms of revenue/asset restrictions and give context to financial analysis for our sector. Issues often arise with board members having a different understanding of budgeting, cash flows, and revenue timing. Stephanie O’Leary, Senior Consultant at Accounting Management Solutions Inc., gave a presentation about how to get your Board “onboard” with nonprofit financial statements. Her presentation focused on: How we, as CFOs, can train our board members on how nonprofit financial statements work; highlighting some best practices to help board members know how to provide proper financial oversight; and providing necessary tools for board members on how to measure organizational success.

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October 2014: What Everyone Needs to Know About the New OMB Grant Rules

October 2014 Meeting: What Everyone Needs to Know About the New OMB Grant Rules

Anita Lichtblau, of Casner and Edwards, gave an overview of the changes in federal regulations known at the Super Circular most likely to affect our members. The Super Circular consolidates and supersedes seven federal circulars. Our members may be most familiar with the A-133 audit circular, the A-122 cost principle circular, and the A-110 grant administrative circular.

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Performance Management: Am I Doing a Good Job?

September 2014: Performance Management:  Am I Doing a Good Job?

As a financial manager, how do you measure success? How does your boss measure your success? Ideally, you and your boss have sat down and established meaningful, measurable, challenging annual goals for you to achieve – however, that doesn’t always happen. HR Consultant Gordon Gottlieb facilitated a discussion on how performance evaluations get played out at different nonprofits, and how to think about setting goals for CFOs, other finance staff and for the rest of the organization. Gordon has many years of experience working as an HR consultant and currently works only with nonprofit and public entity clients.

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