Course Purpose

The purpose of the course is to equip nonprofit Executive Directors, CEOs and management staff with the finance knowledge, skills and practical tools and templates that will strengthen their finance leadership skills.

Nonprofit leaders will feel more confident and equipped to contribute to and develop financial strategies to strengthen the resilience of the organization, department or program; to understand budgets, budgeting and oversight of budgets and how to integrate strategy with finance to strengthen the organization, department and/or programs

See the course outline below for the list of modules, lessons and topics.

Course Format

• 7-week online self-paced course
• 3 modules and 20 lessons
• Lessons consist of a series of short videos that are released each week of the 6 weeks
• The videos are interactive and embed short quizzes
• Modules include 23 takeaway tools such as templates, guides and checklists
• 7 weekly live online Q&A sessions
• You can take the course anytime and anywhere – all you need is an internet connection
• At the end of the 7-week course you enter into the Finance Thrive Community and receive 10 additional months of support and learning. There are quarterly events including live webinars with key speakers, Ask an Expert sessions and practice sessions and more.

Who is this program for?

• Leaders such as CEOs, Executive Director’s, Directors of Operations, Directors of Finance of nonprofit and charitable organizations
• Leaders representing small to large nonprofit and charitable organizations
• Ready for growth: Most participants, but not all, are either CEOs/Executive Director’s or non-finance management staff that received little to no finance training but now they are in a leadership position and realize that they need to strengthen their financial leadership skills.
• Ready to Expand their knowledge: Many participants are Finance Directors that have experience with accounting and bookkeeping but need to strengthen their finance leadership skills
• Confident and Satisfied: Nonprofit Finance participants are thrilled that someone like them developed a nonprofit finance masterclass specifically for them and can’t wait to get started
• Certificate: Individuals that want a certificate of completion to show funders, donors and their board of director’s or their Executive Director that they have invested in themselves and their knowledge in nonprofit finance

Why take this course?

• Maybe you were placed in a leadership role or a finance position without enough training in finance.
• Maybe you have sacrificed professional development dollars for program staff and now realize that you need professional development too!
• Maybe you thought you could leave it to the Director of Finance to figure out for you…
• Maybe you’ve been trying to avoid any kind of training that resembles math because you didn’t do well in math when you were in school (join the club by the way, that’s how I felt!)

What is covered?

Module 1: Foundation in Finance

• Learn about the Governance Finance responsibilities including the role of the finance and audit committees
• Learn the role of the CEO / Executive Director in finance
• Learn about the audit, the role of the auditor and the type of communications from the auditor
• Learn about automating bookkeeping and accounting functions
• Learn about the Accounting Standards for Nonprofit Organizations including accounting terms and audited financial statement presentation methods
• Learn how to read and understand financial statements
• Learn best practices in internal financial statements

Module 2: Financial Statement and Analysis and Business Model Analysis .

• Learn how to analyze financial statements
• Learn about the nonprofit business model and how to analyze and optimize it
• Learn best practices in budgeting and costing and the role of the non-finance manager in finance
• Learn best practices in the preparation of the proposed draft annual budget
• Learn about financial ratios and key performance indicators
• Learn how to conduct a deep dive trend analysis comparing revenue, expenses, surpluses, net assets over 3 years
• Learn how to write a financial narrative

Module 3: Integrating Strategy with Finance

• Learn how to integrate finance with the strategic planning and annual budgeting process
• Learn how to use hindsight, insight and foresight in risk mitigation
• Learn how to develop a plan for reserves
• Learn how to develop a financial plan for the organization