Lois Fine February 2011

We are always asked to tell stories about our agencies – to our funders, to our boards, to our staff, to ourselves. We need to build a case, motivate, provide a reason to donate, help our clients see that we are serving them in the best way we know how. Numbers are really just another way to tell the story. Come and listen to five good ideas about finance in our sector. See why it is important to get behind, inside and through the numbers so that the story you tell is one that will really be heard.

Five good ideas

1. Your financial statements are not just making a statement. They are telling you a fascinating story.
2. The budget doesn’t really budge. Within its fixed frame, the details paint the picture, and the service is all about the spending.
3. Government regulations and related business – charities are often caught between a rock and a hard place.
4. Administration costs are nothing to be ashamed of. We don’t walk on water and we don’t run on air.
5. Let us be your carbon offset – smart money cares about a multiple bottom line.

Five good resources

1. The Four Horsemen of the Non-Profit Financial Apocalypse, by Clara Miller
2. Registered Charities – Legal Considerations, by MaRS Discovery District
3. Drache, Aptowitzer – a good website with interesting articles, newsletters and tax tips for charities and non-profits in Canada
4. The Quest for Blended Value Returns – Working Paper by Karim Harji and Tessa Hebb
5. Accounting Standards Expert Committee of the Ontario Nonprofit Network – including the submission to the Accounting Standards Board responding to the consultation document entitled “Financial Reporting by Not-For-Profit Organizations”