The Nonprofit FAQ

What's involved in financial management?

The National Council of Nonprofit Organizations has a sample financial policies manual available on its website as a Word document. It can be used as a template for developing policies for other organizations. See -- http://www.ncna.org/_uploads/documents/live/Sample_Fiscal_Operations_Policy.doc The Nonprofit Financial Center has been operating in Illinois since 1980. At the website the Center offers a wide range of useful information. -- -- http://www.nfconline.org The Nonprofit Assistance Fund (of Minnesota) website "offers many free resources on nonprofit financial management including short articles on common questions, templates for cash flow projections and a financial management assessment." -- http://www.nonprofitsassistancefund.org The basics of financial management include planning and designing a budget, ongoing accounting and bookkeeping, and managing cash flow. Staying financially healthy requires ongoing financial analysis and audits, and sometimes knowing how to deal with cutbacks. The Free Management Library provides a variety of perspectives for each other these activities, and adds some tools for assessing your financial practices. See -- http://www.mapnp.org/library/finance/np_fnce/np_fnce.htm Speaking of cutbacks, Fieldstone Alliance (formerly the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation) offers Coping with Cutbacks : The Nonprofit Guide to Success When Times Are Tight. The book is described in the online catalog at -- http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=13 Posted 8/19/99 -- CM; revised 4/30/01, 7/9/04, 9/13/04; Nonprofit Assistance Fund added; "Coping with Cutbacks" entry updated 1/6/06 -- PB