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Attorney Recommends Review Instead of Audit
When one nonprofit considered moving away from having an annual audit to having a review, the board wanted a legal opinion before making a decision. They sought out nationally-recognized nonprofit attorney Tom Silk, who has generously shared his letter …
Seven Ways to Reduce Your Audit Costs
Too many of us think of audit costs as an expense to suffer, not to manage. CPA Dennis Walsh tells us differently: Executive Director Blair Benson of the Mental Health Association in Greensboro, North Carolina, was hoping her audit costs wou …
Focus on the Destination, Not the Route (Budget)!
It’s time to stop looking at budgets, argues Jeanne Bell in this provocative finance column, and pay attention instead to projections and financial goals: In this precarious era, annual budgets have become like new cars: they los …
Finance Fear Factor Ratios
At even the most solid nonprofit organizations some board members and executive directors are beginning to wonder and worry, "Are we okay? Should we be worried?" Watching the traditional indicators of financial health — like performance-to-b …
Volunteer Time Financial Statement Illustrations
These financial statement excerpts illustrate the article, "Tracking Volunteer Time to Improve Your Bottom Line: A Complete Accounting Guide," by Dennis Walsh, CPA. See the full article here.By reporting donated nursing and medical social wor …
Tracking Volunteer Time to Boost Your Bottom Line: A Complete Accounting Guide
This article was updated on November 3, 2011. Tracking volunteer time: sounds like another chore? Actually it can help you meet match requirements, improve your financial statement presentations, and reduce liability. In this article, CPA De …
Loans From Nonprofit Board Members
In many nonprofits, a time comes when the question arises: should the organization accept personal loans from board members? This article does not try to answer that question. It does try to outline — very briefly — some of the choices in …
Closing Down the Right Way
In the last Board Cafe column, we discussed how to think about the possibility of closing down a nonprofit, including alternatives to closure. But sometimes closure is the best choice of the possible options. In recent weeks we’ve had a chance to see s …
Nonprofit Retirement: Part 1 of 3
This issue we begin a three-part series on nonprofit retirement, written by Blue Avocado columnist Steve Zimmerman. You’ve read about how organizations should prepare for people retiring, but not much about how you can prepare. In our trademark f …
Just Tell Me: What’s the Best Way to Raise Money? Choosing a Revenue Strategy
It's aggravating to have someone say (at a board meeting, for example), "Look at how they over there raise money! That's better than what we're doing . . . we should do that!" Or for a funder to tell you what they think is the bes …
