Attend Operating Reserves: Making the Case... for $25 (Lunch Included)

Discounts available to members-click here to sign up!

Sponsored by: Southern California Grantmakers and CNM
Recommended for: Executives, Boards, and Financial Professionals

Instructor: Bess Hamilton Foley, Nonprofit Operating Reserves Initiative, Chair   

Course Description
What is an operating reserve? How much is the right amount? What policies should be in place?

Consider this: How long could your organization last or continue to fulfill its mission if there was an unexpected loss of income or surge in demand for services?
Join Bess Hamilton Foley from the Nonprofit Operating Reserves Initiative (NORI) to discuss the role of operating reserves on financial stability and explore their free “Operating Reserve Policy Toolkit,” designed to help organizations:
•    make a compelling case within the organization for the need to establish an operating reserve
•    provide factors to take into consideration in determining the appropriate size of the reserve
•    suggest practices for managing the reserve and reporting its balance
•    offer sample policies, a glossary of terms and other tools with which to go about drafting a reserve policy
For organizations that have already established reserves, the Toolkit can serve as a model for reviewing existing policies or to formalize a “generally understood” policy that has not yet been documented. As the uncertain economic environment persists, this need has only become more evident. NORI hopes the Toolkit will inspire serious discussion throughout the community about how to build long-term financial sustainability among the vital nonprofit originations that save and enrich the lives of so many.
Objectives:
•    Explore the rationale and process for building a board-designated operating reserve and determining your organization’s right reserve ratio
•    Increase understanding of capital structure and capital budgeting
•    Introduce two new online resources

Contents:
•    Making the Case for Reserves
•    Terms & Concepts
•    Determining the Reserve Ratio
•    Policy Development
•    Funding a Reserve
•    Resources & References
•    Toolkit and Activities
•    Q&A

To learn more:
http://nonprofitaccountingbasics.org/nonprofit-operating-reserves-initiative-launches-reserve-policy-toolkit or
http://www.nccs2.org/wiki/index.php?title=Nonprofit_Reserves_Workgroup   (The website of one of the two lead sponsors, the National Center for Charitable Statistics, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy of The Urban Institute. The other lead sponsor is United Way Worldwide, which has long espoused the principle of maintaining operating and other reserve funds.)