What Boards Must Know About Finances

What boards want to know; in fact, must know, regarding their nonprofit's finances falls into four main categories:

Compliance - involves accountability to funders and the public
Evaluation - about measuring progress around use of resources
Planning - using info to make decisions and plan for the future
Action - using info to respond to changes, address problems

The Nonprofits Assistance Fund (NAF) provided an afternoon of training and details on these concepts to a group of 10 nonprofit board and staff participants at a session held earlier this week in Windom. The workshop "Presenting Financial Reports to the Board" was lead by Steve Boland, NAF Loan Officer, and was held at the Business, Arts & Recreation Center (BARC), a nonprofit organization that serves as an education and cultural center for the Windom area.

Nonprofits Assistance Fund develops training around several financial topics with specific consideration of nonprofit financial management needs. NAF is partnering with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) during 2010 to deliver several high-quality, practical financial management trainings around the state. AmyJo Lennartson, MCN regional coordinator, pictured here with Steve Boland of NAF, helps to coordinate the trainings and get the word out for southern Minnesota events.

To check out trainings scheduled for the rest of the year, visit http://www.mncn.org/event_managementNAF.htm.

Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar

Keeping Your Nonprofit's Finances in Order

Fiduciary accountability is one of the board's primary responsibilities. Even if board members are not personally handling all the moneys, they need to ensure that the organizational finances are in good hands and solid processes guide the staff to follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

The Greater Washington Society of CPAs Educational Foundation has created a Web site to help small and medium-size nonprofits address all of their financial and accounting questions. Developed by a special fiduciary accountability task force, the site provides free information, templates, checklists, and numerous tools to help keep the books in order. All boards of nonprofits, especially those with no staff, will find the site helpful on a daily basis.

The site is www.nonprofitaccountingbasics.org/ and it can be very useful for anyone in a nonprofit management or board position.

Howard Barlow, NRS, Fargo