At this point we haven’t used our reserves (at least any time recently). During COVID they grew due to PPP funds due to our billing revenue remaining somewhat even in addition to a big portion of our programs being at least partially grant funded.
This year, our BOD approved a negative budget, with the idea that some of the cash reserves would help with the deficit. From the looks of it, we were able to secure additional funding so hopefully our NI for the year will actually end up closer to zero without touching our reserves.
Use of reserves is a pretty frequent conversation with our BOD and Finance Committee these days, especially as we look at ways to try to retain employees during a time of such high inflation. Unfortunately giving everyone high COLA adjustments has a long term cost that would eventually deplete reserves, so isn’t a great solution. But in reality, some of our reserves should be spent or invested, because we have likely a larger safety net than what would be needed as a true emergency fund.