You are browsing: All Articles
Role of the Nonprofit CFO in Executive Management: The Watchdog Responsibility
Standing before the board to report executive fraud or unethical behavior—that’s an image that no CFO likes to contemplate. The board expects the Executive Director (ED) and CFO to work in partnership to further the mission, but most boards also expect …
Role of the Nonprofit CFO in Executive Management: The CFO-ED Relationship
In the capacity of CFO for the past 25 years, I have partnered with seven executive directors in four different nonprofits. I have worked with an athletic director, an artist, and a number of social workers, and I have found nothing more satisfying tha …
Why Social Movements Require Entrepreneurial Values
When the news broke a few months back about my nonprofit Swipe Out Hunger acquiring the College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA), we received an overwhelming positive response alongside a dose of skepticism about the term “acquire.” “Acquire? …
Ask Rita: When Do I Initiate the ADA Interactive Process with a (Possibly) Disabled Employee?
Dear Rita, I am the HR manager for a nonprofit agency that has 21 employees. One of our employees has been a great performer in the four years they’ve been with us. Their job involves primarily clerical duties. Recently, we’ve noticed this employee has …
How to Unite Your Nonprofit Workforce—and Keep It United Through Misperceptions
Our teams work from different operational levels and knowledge bases than we do. As leaders, we want to consider all these perspectives and areas: research, operations, programming, etc. If we start to focus on our “slice” of the work and our knowledge …
Ethical Storytelling for Nonprofits
When we embark upon what’s known in the nonprofit world as “donation season,” chances are that your organization thinks about putting together a fundraising video or other media that demonstrates the impact of your work. When I became the in-house Medi …
Ask Rita: Religious Exemptions from Regular Work Duties—What Am I to Do?
Dear Rita, I am the HR Manager in a medium-sized nonprofit of about 30 employees. We are a social services organization, and among other things, we actively participate in food distribution to people in need around the holidays. Recently, one of our ne …
Practical Tips for Nonprofit Budgeting
Being the financial type, I am fond of saying that “the numbers tell a story.” And the story of what your organization plans to do in the coming fiscal year is called the budget. Every year, organizations like yours go through the process of creating a …
Download Spreadsheet: Forecasting Nonprofit Finances & Pivoting Programs in a Crisis
Though many people see finance as nothing but a collection of terrifying spreadsheets, I see it as the central branch of nonprofit philosophy. When the pandemic hit, our nonprofit changed everything about the way we work—overnight—and spent the …
How to Be a Great Supervisor: Insights Learned from 20 Years of Managing
People are experiencing a level of stress never seen or imagined in the past. We call on employees more than ever to effectively balance their work life with increasing economic, health & safety, family, cultural, and political challenges. How can …
