A striped bass caught at Lake Lanier

 

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Nonprofit Organization Fiscal Year Budget Template

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The preparation of a budget would include:

- To realize beforehand the immediate objectives.

- To calculate approximately the costs of action plans.

- To estimate the available resources.

Potential Resources

The available resources could be:

-  What is the maximum potential members to be registered from existing data base?
-  What percentage of the maximum potential members may a nonprofit entity expect to attain?
-  Can the supporting, mentoring and sponsoring base be expanded geographically?
-  Are there any other types of resources beside membership available?

The functional budgets will be prepared more easily with the above information. The budgeting functions are:

- Program -   Responsibility of the program directors.
- Administrative -   Responsibility of the board of directors.
- Fundraising - Responsibility of the finance committee.

Strategic Plan

Mission statement is the long-term goal. The strategic plan is a short-term plan of action as opposed to the mission statement.

If the mission is WHAT, then the strategic plan is WHY, WHEN and HOW. It is a plan of action, which could include the following:

- Budgets
- Assigned responsibilities
- Time frames
- Deadlines
- Objectives, goals or targets
- Attract new members
- Motivate volunteers
- Convey or/and promote a positive image

Periodic updates to the strategic plan is a "must" do.

Demand & Supply

What does it make a nonprofit organization demanded?

- It is its MISSION made a nonprofit organization demanded.
- Public becomes fully aware of the nonprofits can generally do a better job of delivering social services than can the other profit entities.

How will a nonprofit entity be successful?

It needs to develop a broad constituency of support, and operates:
- Efficiently (manager's job: It's about HOW), and
- Effectively (leader's job: It's about WHAT and WHY).

It requires planning, budgeting and then giving within its budget.

Volunteers

What or where is the profit in a nonprofit organization?
- The answer is: To make a difference. 

A significant element of a nonprofit entity is people, and volunteers are primarily motivated by commitment and mission, not monetary rewards. However, the common problems with volunteers are:

- Burnout of energy
- Burnout of enthusiasm for a cause or purpose of activities
- Burnout of commitment

Therefore, a nonprofit organization must be prepared to deal with it continually.


"In the nonprofit organization everybody is a leader, everybody is responsible, everybody acts."  - Peter F. Drucker

Basic Ingredients

Today's Special:  A mixed ingredients to make nonprofit dish:

1. Dreamers
2. Movers
3. Shakers

Have a nice day.

Road Blocks

There always are barricade or obstruction across our way to the passage of honorable achievement. These are just a few of our roadblocks:

1. The Negative Image: It is difficult to control or predict the projected image vs the perceived image.

2.  Nonprofit organizations are generally understaffed.

3.  It is a hardship effort to function on a small operating budget.

4.  The negative issue from the viewpoint of public may occur because of unrealistic expectations to nonprofit entity.

5.  Enthusiasm will progressively decrease, and the process will move slowly by too many decision-makers with a limited knowledge and commitment.

6.  The most problematic issue is an inactive board. A board and members do not commit their time and energy to raise fund. It is almost impossible to achieve the mission without sufficient resources.