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Building a Culture of Effective Budgeting Practices
How can you make budgets more effective and valuable for your nonprofit organization? The answer lies in changing people’s perspectives on budgets. You need to move them away from thinking that budgets are only an operational requirement and instead move them to view budgets as a core part of an organization’s culture and aspirations for a brighter future.
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TEMPLATE: Board Resolutions to Authorize Dissolution of a Nonprofit [SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY]
This template provides a basic set of Board resolutions to authorize the final steps of dissolving a nonprofit organization. These sample resolutions are intended for relatively straightforward dissolutions and include language authorizing actions such as carrying out the plan of dissolution, filing Articles of Dissolution, filing the organization’s final Form 990, and more.
VIDEO Q&A for Subscribers: September 2026
Ben and Mike answer questions from subscribers about why depreciation should be included in a nonprofit organization’s budget, the viability of consultants forming a new nonprofit to pursue grant opportunities to fund their work, the pros and cons of taking out a line of credit, and who is authorized to sign the final Form 990 for a dissolving organization.
There Is No Perfect Financial Dashboard and That Is Good
The problem with financial dashboards is that everybody has a different idea about what makes up a “perfect” dashboard. Opinions are important and the sharing of those opinions through a collaborative process will be value-added. However, the most important question is not whether a financial dashboard is “perfect” but whether it is “useful” to as many people as possible.
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TEMPLATE: Budget Assumptions Spreadsheet [SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY]
The purpose of this template budget assumptions spreadsheet is to help nonprofit organizations to document and reflect on the assumptions for individual revenue and expense items that make up their annual budgets. This spreadsheet includes space to show individual departments and accounts within multiple-entity or single-entity structures, compare amounts used in past budgets (projected and actual numbers), a monthly breakout for budget planning, notes to capture details about assumptions and future plans, and more.
VIDEO Q&A for Subscribers: August 2026
Ben and Mike answer questions from subscribers about navigating the instability of fundraising and donations, options for newspapers and journalistic organizations that are exploring 501(c)(3) status to access donations and grants, whether a new nonprofit organization should change its fiscal year when formation process has been slower than expected, and addressing indemnification language in an organization’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.
Financial Teaching Moments are All Around Us
As financial professionals, we are immersed in the language of finance and all its silent and not-so-silent nuances. To everyone else, the language of finance is often mysterious at best and frightening to many. We must constantly remind ourselves to strive to make the language of finance accessible to non-financial managers, Board members, and staff and build their financial acumen and confidence.
Are Your Financial Reports Being Ignored?
Why are nonprofit financial reports often ignored by people who have been entrusted with operational management and fiduciary oversight roles? This important question needs to be considered first as a statement of fact and second as a priority “call-to-action” to help optimize finding real-world solutions. We must recognize the reality that on-time and error-free financial reports are not enough by themselves if these same financial reports are hard to read, difficult to access, and generally not beneficial to Board members, management, staff, and other people who will be using and reading these reports.
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TEMPLATE: Media Consent and Release Form [SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY]
This template media consent and release form is intended to document the permission and license granted by a participant to a nonprofit organization to use the participant’s name, image, likeness, and intellectual property for programmatic, fundraising, and other purposes. The template includes basic language granting these permissions for no compensation, a license for using additional materials (such as photos or videos) that the participant may also provide, a release and waiver of claims based on the right to privacy, the right of publicity, copyright, and other rights, and more.
VIDEO Q&A for Subscribers: July 2026
Ben and Mike answer questions from subscribers about when a new 501(c)(6) trade association or chamber of commerce should start a related 501(c)(3) organization, how to address challenges locating official copies of an organization’s Bylaws and governing documents, whether nonprofits should raise capitalization thresholds to expense more equipment items more quickly, and legal issues to consider before expanding fee-for-service programs.
Operating Reserve Policies are a Perfect Vehicle for Targeting Your Budget’s Bottom-Line
Nonprofit organizations will greatly benefit from adopting a policy for strategically targeting and managing their annual budget bottom-line. There is arguably no greater safety net for overall financial health than having a formal, Board-approved policy that links budgeting goals and objectives with building and maintaining adequate operating reserves.
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TEMPLATE: Multi-Entity Budget Spreadsheet [SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY]
To realize the full potential of structures with multiple nonprofit entities, Board members, management, and staff must see how resources, programs, and activities are gathered and deployed across both organizations. This template multi-entity budget spreadsheet displays the budgets of two related entities (for example, a 501(c)(6) chamber of commerce or membership association and a 501(c)(3) educational foundation) in an easy-to-view grid showing how resources are allocated and shared, providing a starting point that can be easily expanded and reformatted to meet the needs of your organization.
VIDEO Q&A for Subscribers: June 2026
Ben and Mike answer questions from subscribers about budget preparation during periods of transition, policies prohibiting Board members from accepting personal gifts from vendors, writing off old inventory, and whether a Form 1099 must be issued for expense reimbursements that are lacking receipts.
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TEMPLATE: Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement [SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY]
This Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement template is intended to provide a short, simple, and effective questionnaire to ensure transparency and compliance with your organization’s Conflict of Interest Policy, and includes basic instructions with a broad definition of “related parties."
VIDEO Q&A for Subscribers: May 2026
Ben and Mike answer questions from subscribers about how often nonprofits should consider changing investment advisors, the distinction between Board and officer positions, helping your Board and staff to focus more on future planning, navigating state employment laws with remote employees, and the narrow benefits of 501(c)(3) status for foreign NGOs.