A cohort-based series for Program Officers
What does it take for a nonprofit to move from surviving to thriving? How will nonprofits respond to the impact of COVID-19? What kind of support can funders provide to meaningfully shift the trajectory of an organization?
Financially adaptable grantees are equipped to successfully navigate current challenges as well as maximize opportunities in the long-term. Critically, they have a comprehensive understanding of their financial health and are able to tell their financial story to key stakeholders. In this three-part series, we will explore what it takes for a nonprofit to thrive over the long-term, how to use financial analysis as a tool to identify resilience (or lack thereof), and what grantmakers can do to support nonprofits in achieving financial strength. Participants should be prepared to roll up their sleeves with interactive and case-based activities and tools focused on assessing organizational strength.
In the first session, we will introduce a framework for nonprofit financial resilience, explore how to synthesize key metrics into a coherent picture of financial health, and discuss how a race neutral approach to financial analysis may unintentionally exacerbate inequities.The second session will dive deeper into the critical components of the resilience framework, with a focus on understanding true cost and the need for nonprofits to build and maintain their financial planning “muscle.” In the final workshop, participants will be invited to apply what they’ve learned and consider how they might strengthen their own financial review processes, evaluate their indirect cost policies, and structure grants to more effectively support grantee financial resilience in the long-term.
Intended Outcomes
Upon completing this series, participants will be better able to:
- Identify signs of financial health and indicators that warrant further conversations with grantees
- Understand how racial inequity can impact an organization’s ability to be resilient and how a race neutral financial analysis may perpetuate those inequities
- Identify the difference between specific, shared, and overhead costs and understand how to calculate and interpret an organization’s indirect cost rate
- Understand how multi-year and scenario planning, supported by nimble and flexible financial models, can help organizations be better prepared for growth as well as rightsizing
- Structure a financial due diligence process to align with your organization’s values
- Understand the types of grantmaker investments that support financial resilience
- Understand the phases of change nonprofits are experiencing as a result of the impact of COVID-19 and forms of philanthropic support most needed during each phase
Presenter
- Hilda Polanco, Founder and CEO, Fiscal Management Associates, LLC
Recordings
Designed for
All interested funders in grantmaking roles, especially grantmakers who have had 2-3 years of experience and program officers who have attended the Essential Skills and Strategies for New Program Officers and the Fundamentals to Financials. Funders will find added value to the workshop if they are able to come with another colleague. What to expect: Presentation blended with breakout discussions.
* Please note: Participants will automatically be registered for all three sessions in this three-part Applied Finance workshop series once you register for the first session.
This is a cohort-based series open to Philanthropy New York Members only. We are registering a group of participants that agree to attend all three sessions, as each program’s learning outcomes build on the next session.
Please email register@philanthropynewyork.org with any questions.
