An Executive Director’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership
![](https://nonprofitfinancials.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-magazine-1024x630.jpg)
Written by Kate Barr and Jeanne Bell for the Fall/Winter 2011 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly, this article offers up what they see as the eight key business principles that guide financial leadership practice:
- Activate your annual budget
- Income diversification… or not
- Make cash flow your priority
- Don’t wish for reserves — plan them
- Rethink restricted funding
- Staff your finance function
- Help your board to help you
- Manage the right risks
This expert guide outlines essential steps: transforming annual budget analysis, deciding whether or not income diversification is the way to go, achieving a robust reserve, and equipping the board for effective financial governance.