[Dana-B-Forum-Moderator]

Hi John – Thanks for posting. Charities Review Council has a template that you might find helpful here: https://smartgivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Sample-Travel-and-Entertainment-Reimbursement-Policy.docx

Definitely curious to hear from others as well!

[Dana-B-Forum-Moderator]

Hi Ron, I’m not sure if you’ve already filed for and secured your 501c3, but regardless the Center for Nonprofit Resources has some good resources and key considerations for starting a nonprofit. Hope this helps!

https://c4npr.org/getting-help/starting-a-nonprofit/

c4npr.org

Starting a Nonprofit - The Center for Nonprofit Resources

Every day, individuals like you are inspired to start a nonprofit to help serve your community. Starting and sustaining a nonprofit are not easy tasks, but we applaud your commitment to helping others. With more than 3,300 registered nonprofits in … Continue reading

[Dana-B-Forum-Moderator]

Hi Bob – I would tend to agree with Wade around Excel. Especially if you’re using FundEz as your accounting system, which doesn’t always integrate nicely with other softwares. I’m hoping Excel can give you enough flexibility and capability to budget by Cost Center while also factoring in restricted funds tracked in FundEz.

[Dana-B-Forum-Moderator]

Hi Elisabeth – In terms of potential arguments, I think it might just help to be very clear on how each of the staff investments that you’re proposing could contribute to further advancing the mission, improving operating performance and/or securing/generating/maintaining new and current revenue sources to further build sustainability. Depending on your current operating and financial position and needs, there’s a possibility that some portion of reserves may be needed to fund other short or long-term needs (investments in fixed assets, short-term cash flow shortages, etc.), but I think anything you could do to link your proposed staff investments to your strategies for sustainability could be helpful here.

Curious to hear other’s thoughts. Let us know what you think!

[Dana-B-Forum-Moderator]

Thanks for the insights, Michael. Regarding the changeability of business models, there was a lot of interest and questions around this during today’s webinar. For example, for an organization that’s looking to reduce dependency on government contracts and is seeking to increase individual and foundation contributions, what are some “case studies” and examples of organizations who have done this and how?

Would love to hear more from anyone who has experiences with pushing forward any big changes to your business model. What worked well? What challenges did you face (or continue to face)? What have you learned?