New Web Site Teaches Charities About Finances

February 19, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute

A new Web site seeks to help social-service charities bolster their financial know-how.

StrongNonprofits.org offers in-depth information and guides on budgeting, financial analysis, monitoring, and the role of boards in financial management. The site was created by the Wallace Foundation and Fiscal Management Associates, a consulting company that focuses on nonprofit financial management.

One of the site’s featured tools is Go or No-Go?, an interactive questionnaire designed to help organizations determine whether taking on a new contract will help or hurt their bottom line.

Too often nonprofits don’t know how much it costs them to provide services, and they’re tempted to start new programs that aren’t a good fit for their mission, says Sharon Clark, a director at the Wallace Foundation.

“The tool asks organizations in a very thoughtful way, involving the program staff, involving the financial staff, involving the executive director, to say, Let’s really go through and see if this does make sense for our organization,” she says.

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.