Protecting your organization’s Financial Health

by Desiree Tirk

Nonprofit boards of directors are accountable to ensure the organization has the necessary resources to achieve its mission. As a director, you are also responsible to ensure that sufficient funding is secured so that the business of the organization can be carried out. While some nonprofit organizations diversify their funding sources of income by seeking out sponsorships, grants, foundations, fundraising, or starting a social enterprise, to name a few, others may rely on just one or two funding sources.

Together, the executive director and board should regularly and proactively evaluate revenue sources by asking: ‘What would happen if our organization lost our largest source of revenue? How heavily do we rely on any one source of funding? What are some potential opportunities to diversify our revenue stream?’

Nonprofits can benefit from diversifying their funding by creating security and deeper financial stability, increasing flexibility in the type of programs and services they offer, enhancing the organization’s reputation and credibility in the eyes of potential funders, and enabling organizations to be able to pursue strategic growth opportunities as they come available. According to NonProfit Quarterly, “Revenue diversification can give you options when the ground shifts beneath you.”

If your organization is seeking out additional revenue sources, there are some things to consider:

• Revenue diversification takes time

– grant writing, fundraising, and developing sponsorship packages all take time, not to mention fulfilling additional accounting and reporting requirements. Does your organization’s staff have the time and capacity for this? If not, consider seeking out committee or board members who may have experience in fundraising, sponsorships, or setting up major gift programs. Or, utilize available resources such as Grant Writing

101_PCD (prairiecentral.ca), Grant Writing 101 Video Series - YouTube, or this free webinar on prospect research for nonprofits.

• If you’re planning to fundraise, develop a well-diversified fundraising plan – Check out this free tool that you can use to forecast your fundraising efforts. Consider multiple methods and strategies such as Crowdfunding, virtual fundraisers, social media fundraising or LinkedIn Fundraising. Get Fully Funded suggests it is important to “choose the fundraising strategy that will give you the best return on your investment of time, money, and energy” and provides a downloadable one-page quick and simple fundraising plan to create a successful fundraising plan. As a board director, your role as an ambassador, connector, and storyteller can help with fundraising and engaging donors.

• Planning is important – most grant application dates happen early spring (February, March, April) or fall (September, October, November), and programs generally need to be ready to start shortly after the approval process. Having a plan in place will ensure your organization is successful in working towards its mission.

• Alignment of priorities – consider how your funding request aligns with the specific priorities of the funder. For example, if ‘collaboration, learning, and innovation’ are the funder’s priority areas, have you described how your funding request fits within these areas? According to Grantwatch. com, “Submitting a proposal only made up of text copied and pasted from other proposals is unlikely to be successful.”

• Avoid Fund-Chasing – just because money is available doesn’t mean that an organization should apply for it, especially if it means drifting away from your mission. If the funding aligns with your organization’s mission and goals, then go for it.

• Communicate your success – Be sure to communicate with your community, those sponsors, donors, and granters that have helped contribute to your success. “An organization can be doing great work, but in most cases, it needs to be sharing its progress, its programs and services, and its discoveries with the public to remain relevant.” (SaskCulture, 2023)

• Consider applying for grants and sponsorships to reach your financial goals: there are a number of funding opportunities available throughout the year:

» Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association’s Grants and Funding Guide.

» SaskCulture’s Find a Grant.

» Imagine Canada’s Grant Connect.

» There are seven Sport, Culture and Recreation Districts in Saskatchewan that each provide funding and resources.

» Municipal grants (i.e. search City of Saskatoon, Regina, Prince

Albert, Yorkton).

» Community Foundations: South Saskatchewan Community Foundation or find your area on the map of Community Foundations of Canada.

» Financial Institutions: Affinity Credit Union, TD Bank, CIBC, Scotiabank, RBC, and BMO.

» Corporations such as Sask Energy, SaskTel, SaskPower, Google, or BATC Community Development Corporation.

» Local businesses in or near your community such as Co-op, Giant Tiger, or Walmart. Consider where you shop, buy groceries, or places you visit regularly.

» Community Initiatives Fund (CIF) Welcome to the Community Initiatives Fund! » Community Initiatives Fund (cifsask.org).

» Other Nonprofit Organizations such as SIGA.

About Desiree Spending

the past 25 years working in community development in the nonprofit and government sectors, Desiree brings a variety of experience with developing and facilitating workshops and has held positions as Program Manager, Facilitator, and Trainer. Desiree has over 20 years’ experience as co-owner of a business and holds a Bachelor of Indian Social Work and Bachelor of Arts in Native Studies.

As outlined in The Complete Guide to Diversifying Your Nonprofit Revenue Streams, what is most important if you’re considering revenue diversification is to “create a plan that’s right for your organization and will help you increase revenue in the long term.”

For more information on revenue diversification, visit ELEVATE or the Fundraising section in Board Resources on SARC Learning Central.

To connect with Desiree Tirk and learn more about how strategic planning can help your organization, email her at dtirk@sarcan.sk.ca