Social Ch@nge

This year’s going to be different! Tackle 2009 head on by putting these five basic resolutions into practice and kiss your non-profit office headaches of 2008 goodbye.

“New Year’s Resolutions” Original Photo by Flickr user Ian Turton, CC Licensed

1) I will back up my computer every two weeks.

Computers crash, even in the new year. Back them up.

2) I will label my grant drafts systematically.

Can’t find the latest version of your grant? Try looking under “Important Grant Final”. Sorry, make that ”SuperExtraFinal2″…

Alternatively, promise yourself that this year, you’re setting up your file system so that anyone can understand it, including you. Label your drafts by name and date (Rockefeller 12.12.2008) or by number (Rockefeller 1). Save the final draft to a file marked “Final”  and save your future you the hassle of hours plowing through superextrafantasticfinal…

3) While I’m at it, I will give the computers on our non-profit server names that make sense.

Quick, is your foundations database on “Bob”, “Hotty” or “F102″? Consider renaming all the computers in your non-profit’s network for the purpose they serve or the files they hold – it’s a lot easier to go looking for information when you can see what you’re looking at. To do this, go into your network and right-click for renaming options and assign your computer its new easy-to-understand name. (You’ll be glad to know the foundations database is now on Fundraiser, formerly known as Bob)

4) I will have a funding folder.

In it, you will put photocopies or copies of the items grants commonly request from non-profits. That is; a copy of your most recent Annual Report, an audited financial statement, a list of your board members, proof that you are indeed a non profit (for example, your charter and registration number),  a program summary and budget that illustrates clearly who your project’s partners are, and one or two well chosen examples of press attention. Staple an envelope to this file containing a cd of all of these items.  This way, you can print or photocopy them when you need them, as opposed to discovering at the last, panicky second that there are no more annual reports…

5) I will do a quarterly review of our non-profit’s/my program’s financial situation

If you are the executive director, funding director or you’re on the board you should know exactly how much money your non profit has and how much it needs. A quarterly budget for 2009 will help you stay on track and avoid nasty surprises. (I have worked at two non-profits where the nasty surprise after the first quarterly budget was that we were over ten thousand dollars in debt. Surprise!) Program directors are responsible for smaller sums, but you still should strive for a quarterly budget – for one thing, it allows you to illustrate clearly to donors, volunteers or board members exactly where the money is going. For another, it lets you know how much funding your program needs for the end of the year.

If you aren’t doing budgeting because you don’t know how to, the best guide I have ever seen to making a budget (and checking it on a quarterly basis) is in “Fundraising For Social Change” by Kim Klein – page 99 in the above book link gives you a taste of how to make an event budget, but the real budget advice isn’t available on Google Books’ version. So pony up and turn to p 349 when your copy arrives, and enjoy knocking this resolution off your list.

Happy New Year from Social Ch@nge!