Liquid Unrestricted Net Assets (LUNA) or sometimes called Expendable Unrestricted Net Assets is a calculation that takes the net balance sheet value of buildings/equipment out of the Unrestricted Net Assets number. There are several reasons for this – first the balance sheet value of property may bear little resemblance to the fair market…

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Jeffrey,

Some time ago, I figured out that nonprofits were a lot like dogs. There are giant great danes like hospitals and universities. There are small yippy dogs like the two or three person advocacy nonprofits. There are working dogs like human service groups and there are poodles like some of the arts group.

This realization came to me…

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In my many decades of work in the nonprofit sector, the major issue with strategic planning is ignorance of the organization’s staff and financial resources. Most plans focus on growth and demand additional personnel and money without any thought of where this investment capital is coming from. This is especially true in human service…

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I use 990 Online, https://efile.form990.org/ for preparing the 990. I like it because each step of the way, ypu can click on the question which provideds IRS back up info.

When discussing overhead, I ask folks if they would want to fly in an airplane if ticket costs only covered the pilots’ and flight attendents’ salaries plus the fuel. I think most people would say “No”. Airlines need overhead for inspections, maintenance, and upgrades to make sure that the craft is safe. All too often, funders (often local…

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The first thing that you need to do is have a job description for the position. For example do you want your treasurer to actually maintain the financial records or do you have staff to do this job? Is the Treasurer a doer or an over-seer?

I would try to recruit the CFO from a medium to large size nonprofit with a similar mission to be your…

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How easy it is to make the change depends on the staff. If you have a lot of low income hourly workers, it is difficult. Those people live paycheck to paycheck and they will view the change as losing an entire week of payu. No matter how you demonstrate that they will be making the same amount of money, you can’t deny that there will be a…

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