Planning and Budgeting for Uncertain Times
Over the past 10 months, many nonprofits have been confronted with a series of shocks. These include cuts associated with federal retrenchment, threats of more costly, indeterminate delays in payments, and compliance demands that have been arduous at best. All of this has created further competition in private giving and general turbulence in the revenue landscape that renders standard forms of planning difficult.
Webinar
Risk-Sensitive Nonprofit Planning: New Tools for These Times
To respond to this still-changing environment, nonprofits need new planning approaches. This webinar will provide the framework and practical applications for how your organization can plan rapidly yet rigorously in today’s environment.
Download the slides for this presentation.
Transcript: Coming soon!
Original Articles
Financial Risk Assessment: A 3-Level Model for Nonprofits in 2025
The Power of Nonprofit Repositioning: An Alternative to Scenario Planning
Writing for the National Council of Nonprofits, Steve Zimmerman argues that given the level of uncertainty and the multiplicity of external threats nonprofits are experiencing, scenario planning is a bad fit — and proposes a better path through scenario positioning. Read the article here.
Tools
Community Action Agency (CAA) Tools
These remarkably practical tools have been shared with us by the National Community Action Partnership, a network of community-based safety net organizations across the US. They generally have government funding as their base.
- Board Discussion Guide for Uncertain Financial Times: This guide provides a roadmap to help board members ask critical questions, gain consensus, and explore strategic actions to navigate financial uncertainty. Download it here.
- When Your Upcoming Fiscal Year Is Uncertain: “In recent years, Congress has often failed to pass a full budget or fully appropriate funding by the start of the new federal fiscal year, making Continuing Resolutions (CR) and threats of a government shutdown the norm. While that drama plays out in Washington, CAAs and other community-based organizations must continue their critical work of serving the community, often without certainty about their future budgets or funding levels.” Find the tool here.
- Avoiding the “Cut Only” Trap: “Think beyond cuts. Maintaining core functions matters—shared services or outsourcing can help reduce costs without losing capacity.” This excerpt is part of NCAP’s Scenario-Planning Toolkit, available here.
- Lastly, NCAP has provided this Excel spreadsheet for use as a sample revenue chart.
From the StrongNonprofits Toolkit
This set of scenario planning tools can help you navigate strategic and financial shifts due to external and internal circumstances. The Scenario Identification Tool helps clarify realistic strategic options available to an organization, and the Financial Model Template provides a framework to run the numbers and choose a path.
Bright Spots
Interview with Liz Kuoppala, Executive Director, MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership, Inc.
Other Tools
Resources to Navigate Uncertainty
Questions to Spur Good Board (and Administration) Discussion:
- How do we ensure that the people and communities we assist are centered in our decisions?
- What are our top three priorities right now?
- How could we sustain our mission without our largest funding source?
- What are the impacts on our community if we lose a major funding source?
- What kinds of risk and how much risk are we willing to tolerate?
- What opportunities do we see to grow or build revenue?
- What does the Executive Director need from the Board?
- What are our legal and financial liabilities?
- How do we protect the organization?
- What are our assumptions about our funding, and how might they need to change?
