Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times: Leadership Strategies When Economies Falter

When economic crisis hits, as it has with a vengeance in the 2008–2009 recessionary period, there is much concern for the health of the nation’s nonprofits. But to see nonprofits as passive victims of economics is a misperception. Your nonprofit is part of the nation’s economic structure and a vibrant economic participant with a wide range of revenue options and strategies.

A powerful tool for your nonprofit’s financial health, in both good and bad times, Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times features authoritative coverage of:

• The strategic steps your nonprofit needs to take to prepare for and respond to economic crisis

• Public charities on the economic landscape

• Defining overall nonprofit revenue

• Accommodating change in the interests of stability

• Innovations in philanthropic financial support strategies

• The complexity of economic cycles and nonprofit revenues

• A systems approach to revenue strategy

• Common principles for robust strategy

This timely and practical guide shows you how surviving difficult economic conditions means dedicating yourself to understanding the details of any financial crisis and identifying those board members and other leaders who can both give you deep analysis and act as your analysts of the winners and losers in real time.

The guidance your nonprofit needs is here―not to just hang on for the white-knuckle ride, but to plan your best strategy to survive and succeed. Get equipped with the tools you need to get started in Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times.

“Nonprofits provide a wide range of essential services across this nation. Economic crisis can cripple the financial health of these nonprofits just as the crisis itself is heightening the demand for their services. Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times is a thorough yet wide-ranging analysis of the intersections between economic storms and nonprofit capacity. More importantly, it provides a unique framework for developing strategies to diversify revenue sources in ways that will increase a nonprofit’s abilities to withstand the buffeting of those storms. Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times is a must read for nonprofit managers, Boards, and the philanthropists who are invested in their success.”
―The Honorable and Mrs. Rudolph W. Giuliani

“Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times challenges the nonprofit sector to seize opportunity from the jaws of economic crisis. Premised on an explicit philosophy that places community engagement at the heart of both nonprofit action and philanthropic giving, this book provides both financial strategy for nonprofit organizational growth and core concepts of leadership that will deeply embed community participation in the structure and success of nonprofits. Stronger nonprofits and more effective philanthropy need not be left to the fates. Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times provides strategy and leadership to ensure that institutions that are dedicated to community well-being do not themselves fall ill in economic crisis. The data are rigorous, the analysis is astute, and the strategies can and should be part of the planning process for nonprofits and philanthropists alike.”
―Susan Braun, School Administrator, The Waldorf School of Garden City, Former CFO, Citigroup Investment Services