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Coffee chat

by with No Comment AnnouncementsFeatured Blog

We haven’t had coffee together in a while, but if we were catching up today, we’d probably chat about the weather (80 degrees in October?!) and maybe our families and probably your latest win at work!

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As for me, currently I am…

Celebrating one year of 100 Degrees Consulting! In the past year, we’ve led 3 workshops, worked with 5 clients on countless projects, survived 2 annual audits with clients, written 12 blog posts, and analyzed countless financial statements. Year two can only hold more excitement for my clients! Maybe you’ll be one of them?

Planning for year-end close with two of my clients. I know it’s only November but it’s never too soon to start thinking about how we’re going to make sure the year is closed accurately and timely. To help you all out, I’m developing a monthly/annual close checklist that will help guide you through your monthly close too. So many potential clients I speak with don’t have any type of close process which means they don’t have as much visibility into their numbers as they could.

Reading more blogs than anything else these days. Some of my favorites are Melyssa Griffin, Tara Gentile, and Lead Change Group. Does anyone have any great blogs I can add to my list?

Listening to the Hamilton soundtrack. We were gifted tickets to the Chicago show and while I was initially skeptical at how it could possibly live up to the hype, I really enjoyed the show and found myself singing the songs for days after. I bit the bullet and bought the soundtrack!

Working on a financial management program for entrepreneurs. Think a workshop series where I would provide you the tools you need to get a handle on your finances, make sure you’re charging enough, identify your margins, and provide hands-on coaching throughout the whole process. You’ll walk away with confidence in your numbers and insight to make strategic business decisions to help you grow!

Thinking about our next travel adventure! We just got back from a quick trip to Dublin, Ireland, thanks to some Delta vouchers and that sparked the wanderlust again! I’m thinking Scotland, summer 2017. Who’s been?

Enjoy your Tuesday morning coffee, my friends!

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Think bigger than your “overhead rate”

by with No Comment Featured BlogFinancial ManagementFinancial StatementsNonprofit

Once upon a time, I was a victim. A victim to the nonprofit overhead myth that as much money as possible should go to programs and anything spent on “overhead” or infrastructure was taking education away from the children of Africa.

I walked around with a 75 pound, 3 year old laptop, and every time I would lift it up, the battery would drop out of the bottom. This was especially problematic en route to meetings when I had my materials up on the screen just before presenting. I’d have to pop the battery back in, shift uncomfortably in my seat while the system booted up again and I opened my presentation back up. I eventually duct-taped the battery in which served me well until the entire system died.

Really? A duct taped computer? I wasted hours on that thing instead of just spending the $600 to get a new laptop!

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I was a victim of the nonprofit overhead myth.

Which is why I’m thrilled to see this conversation making the rounds again and again.

I recently spoke at The Shift, a nonprofit incubator workshop, where I walked newbie nonprofits through creating a budget and pipeline for revenue and expenses. You can be sure I planted those seeds early that minimal infrastructure does not equal maximum programmatic impact.

I love Nonprofit Quarterly‘s shift in thinking about overhead as Core Mission Support, and I think it all goes back to the scarcity mindset. We feel like an investment in key infrastructure is taking away from programs and that there are limited resources out there for us.

Of course, we must be reasonable and responsible with our precious resources (none of Oprah’s “you get a car, and you get a car!” business) and focus on our impact, but let’s all commit to making a shift in mindset. Budget for what you need to be efficient – enough staff and equipment to run like a well-oiled machine. On the income side, don’t limit your fundraising goals either – instead of thinking “Oh, maybe we could raise $100k this year”, think instead of what you want to accomplish and develop a plan to get there.

The sky’s the limit, my friends! Go forth and invest!

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5 Ways to Achieve More Focus

by with No Comment Featured BlogMindsetProductivity

I’ve come across two separate blog posts recently talking about a conversation between Warren Buffet and his pilot about goals. The TL;DR version is that Warren Buffett asked the pilot to write down his 25 career goals then circle the top five most important goals. Warren Buffett asked how the pilot would accomplish these top five goals, and he responded that he would focus on the top 5 while working on the other 20 as time allowed.

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Warren Buffett stopped him and said that his sole focus should remain on those top 5; the other 20 were to be avoided at all costs.

As nonprofit professionals or busy entrepreneurs, people who are inherently driven to accomplish as much as possible, it can feel truly impossible to only focus on the top 5 goals. I tried this exercise myself – first, I found it difficult to come up with 25 goals to begin with, but once I had them all on paper (and knowing where the exercise was going) it felt nearly impossible to limit myself to just five!

And that’s when I felt like I had discovered the key – by choosing just five goals, Warren Buffett was not telling the pilot to limit himself. He was telling him to focus on those goals, and put every single ounce of his effort and his being into those goals.

What about you? Are you focusing on what really matters at your organization? Or are you spending unnecessary time on things beyond your career, business, or organizational goals or expertise?

In my personal entrepreneurship journey, I’ve been challenged by juggling high-quality client work, blogging useful content, finding people who can use my content, creating useful tools for nonprofits and entrepreneurs, utilizing Facebook and LinkedIn, and MORE.

Here’s how I’ve (at least temporarily!) figured it out.

  1. Write it down. Use a real pen and real paper and write down your top 5 goals. Heck, even go through Warren Buffett’s exercise if you want and write down the top 25 and narrow it down to 5. So much clarity can come from the 15 minutes it takes for this exercise to realize that some things you were spinning your wheels on simply aren’t important. Another method to check out – Being Boss’s Chalkboard Method!
  2. Push the noise aside. After writing down my top goals, I decided that figuring out Facebook ads simply wasn’t worth my focus right now. It would be a big-time commitment – I’m not the most social media savvy! – and the ROI for my business would be minimal. SKIP IT or CALL IN THE EXPERTS!
  3. Dig deeper on those five goals. Surround yourself with people and resources to accomplish those goals. Do you want to reach three new donors next month? Reach out to your dream donor for a meeting! Several of my most impactful client relationships have come from cold emails. Connect with one person or organization who’s already doing what you want to do.
  4. Manage your schedule to encourage focus. I have always struggled with my calendar and giving myself enough roomy blocks of time to actually accomplish my top 5 goals. I tended to fill any empty slot with a phone call or meeting, leaving 30 minutes chunks throughout the day to accomplish work. Do not do as I did! Set aside several chunks of time – or maybe even a whole day (GASP!) – each week for strategic work time, over which you will not schedule anything else.
  5. Find an accountability partner.  My nonprofit and entrepreneur friends are so highly driven and motivated to change the world or build a business that our brains are constantly spinning with ideas, leaving us with little time to focus. I hired a coach to keep me on track and provide me with solid business advice. You don’t need to hire someone necessarily; you could find someone within your network to help you focus on your top 5. Highly recommended!

Here’s to a focused and successful Q4!

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Your top budget questions answered

by with No Comment Featured Blog

October is when lots of organizations begin their final Q4 push and start crafting their 2017 budgets so I thought I would answer some frequently asked budget questions.

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Before we even get started with any numbers, let’s tackle a couple big picture questions:

  1. Do you have to have a break even budget? No! There is no nonprofit law that says you MUST have a break even budget or the big scary monster will revoke your 501(c)(3) status. It is generally understood (and the IRS says) that nonprofits exist to execute their mission, so the goal is not to generate a wide profit margin but there are some important exceptions. Keep reading!
  2. Can you budget for a surplus? Yes! We are not out to make a profit that will be put into shareholders’ or CEO’s pockets, but we can budget a surplus if we are, say, looking to start a new program next year and want to build up reserves. Just be prepared to share your goals and intentions with your board and stakeholders.
  3. Can you budget for a deficit? Again, yes, but with a few caveats. It’s certainly not a practice I would encourage on an annual basis if the reason you’re budgeting a deficit is simply because you are unable to bring in enough revenue to sustain your programs. That would be a cause for concern and a reason to take a deeper dive into the numbers. However, if you booked multi-year revenue in one year and the expenses will catch up the following year, budgeting a deficit is perfectly okay. Again, do the analysis and ensure that your revenue stream is enough to keep the organization going without that bump in revenue.

Now, on to logistics of actually preparing your budget.

  1. When should you complete your budget? Give yourself plenty of time before the new fiscal year begins to complete your budget and review it with the board. Make sure to get input and buy-in from your team. Ideally, you would have the budget approved and input into the accounting software by January 1st. If not, again, the 501(c)(3) monster will not come get you but it is best practice.
  2. How do you project next year’s budget? A great start is to look at this year’s actual numbers – both revenue and expenses – plus projections. So if you’re preparing your budget in October, look at January through September YTD numbers, PLUS October through December projections, to get a total estimate for the whole year. Then go from there. Maybe you know you will be expanding a program or adding a new staff member – add it in! Avoid contingency or “miscellaneous” line items and be as accurate and realistic as possible. Don’t forget to budget revenue too!
  3. How do I analyze my budget draft? Once you’ve compiled your first draft of the budget, it’s time to step back and give it a thorough once-over. Add in variance amounts and percentages so you can see your projected growth or budget decrease. Do you have the resources to grow by as much as you’ve projected? Maybe we scale back and progressively grow over multiple years instead.

Budgeting season is a great time to step back and review your numbers from the 30,000-foot view. Does your budget align with your strategic plan? Do you have a solid plan in place to accomplish your goals? It’s also a great time to get into the thick of the numbers. Do you really need to budget that much for staff events?

So put on your big picture AND line item detail hats and happy budgeting!

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Mind Mapping for Type A’s

by with No Comment Featured BlogProductivity

I am a list person through and through. I have notebooks filled with neatly lined pages, precise handwriting in only black or blue ink (NEVER pencil – the horror!), and nary a doodle in sight. You could say with strong confidence, just by looking at my notebooks, that I am a Type A.

So when I started preparing for the workshop I’m hosting for The Shift in several weeks, I started a list on a fresh page in my notebook. I listed three concepts, one after another, and I was done. There was no room physically on the page for brainstorming or thinking outside the proverbial box without messing up my neatly scribed lines.

Then I saw a blog post about mind mapping and decided to throw all caution to the wind, pulled out some neon paper, and started scribbling away. To my surprise, ideas kept coming. I jumped around the page, adding circle after circle, and ended up after thirty minutes with a much more robust concept of what my workshop would cover than just a few lines on a page.

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Mind mapping is visual, expandable, understandable, limitless, and applicable to almost anything. For five seconds of entertainment, just Google mind mapping and see what beautiful creations people have made. Mine isn’t that pretty but it works!

My creatives out there are nodding their heads like, yeah, no kidding, I’ve been using visual, non-linear thinking since I was a kid.

But my challenge is for the Type A’s. One of the first things I ask when we get on a call together is: What are the biggest challenges of your job/business/organization right now? Ask yourself that question today and instead of writing a list, pull out a blank sheet of paper and mind map it!

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3 Ways to Tackle Interruptions

by with No Comment Featured BlogProductivity

Abila (accounting and other software creator) recently did a study of trends and challenges facing nonprofit professionals which also apply to our social enterprise and entrepreneur friends.

Has anyone out there ever done any task outside of your functional area?

Do you have a vague title like “Operations Manager” which basically means that you’re everything to everyone all the time?

Yeah, I’ve been there.

Abila’s study tells us that the biggest challenge to nonprofit finance professionals is interruptions from other departments. We spend over double the amount of time we’d like responding to inquiries for small bits of information as our colleagues are planning, budgeting, compiling donor reports, and managing their own functions.

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So how can we tackle this culture of interruption? Give your employees all the information they need proactively so those one-off requests are few and far between.

Here’s how:

  1. Consistent information sharing. How proactive are you in providing information to your leadership, managers, and teams on a regular basis? Do the key stakeholders in your organization receive and understand the financial statements that mean the most to them on a monthly basis? I know we all get busy, but we need to be consistent in getting relevant financial information out to the relevant parties every month. Let’s empower our employees with the data they need to act and think like owners.
  2. Customized dashboards using the right tools. Speaking of giving out the right financial information, do you simply click a couple times in Quickbooks and email out multiple page reports of numbers that mean nothing to your team or leadership? This may be checking the “send financial statements” box but, frankly, an income statement with 75 lines likely means nothing to your Program Director or Chief Creative Officer. Let’s do better! How about a one-page dashboard (maybe designed nicely in PowerPoint?) that shows the highlights, just the information your team needs to make informed business decisions.
  3. Predefined finance debriefs or roundtables. One final way to head off interruptions is to set up scheduled finance meetings where you provide context to the team around the numbers. Like, “our revenue was below projections this month because the grant we expected didn’t come in…” or “our sales were ahead of schedule this month which will affect our cash flow in this way…”. The numbers mean a lot more with some words behind them!

So what do you think? Do you think you’d reduce your interruptions by implementing the above steps? Give it a shot next month and see how much more empowered your employees are when armed with financial information!

Or maybe you have no interest or time to compile a monthly financial dashboard and could use a little help – give me a call and let’s chat!

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100 Degrees Must-Have Resources: Vol. 1

by with No Comment Featured BlogResources

I’ve had lots of inquiries lately as to which apps, programs, and tools I recommend to nonprofits and social entrepreneurs so I thought I would put together my first 100 Degrees Must-Have Resources to share with you all. I certainly don’t claim to be the first to adopt the latest app (e.g. I have no plans to join SnapChat!), but I have personally used and can vouch for these tools.

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Accounting software:

Freshbooks – Super inexpensive and easy to use accounting software for the beginning entrepreneur. Their mobile app makes it easy to invoice clients, enter expenses, and get a quick picture of your financials. Freshbooks is not the best choice for nonprofits with more complicated charts of accounts or income streams. Price: $

Intuit Quickbooks – The most well-known accounting software for small to mid-sized businesses of all types. Intuit offers Quickbooks Online or Desktop versions and can be as simple or complex as your business needs. The reporting capabilities are limited but you can generally get all of the info you need. It’s also compatible with dozens of other apps and programs. Price: $$

Abila MIP Fund Accounting – A much more complex, robust accounting system designed specifically for nonprofits. It’s a multi-cost center accounting system with deep chart of accounts capabilities and extensive reporting. If you have no idea what any of that means, contact me! The only downside is that you need an MIP-licensed consultant to help set it up. Price: $$$

Payroll:

Gusto – Simple to use payroll software to pay W2 employees and 1099 consultants. Gusto has a simple online platform to enter payroll and it’s great for organizations with a handful of employees.

Have more than a handful of employees? There are too many options out there to list but I can help you vet the choices if you’re looking to make a change!

Expense Reporting:

Expensify – Allows your employees to submit expense reports or credit card receipts remotely with an easy to use platform that allows for direct import into Quickbooks or other accounting software. They don’t have phone-accessible customer service (just email) so probably not a good choice if you expect to need a lot of hand-holding.

Mile IQ – The perfect app for tracking mileage. A couple taps and swipes and you’re set up to track all your business mileage for reimbursement or just simple tracking for taxes.

Other:

Salesforce.com – Probably the most popular CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) software on the market right now and for good reason. It’s highly customizable – in fact, I work with three different organizations who all use Salesforce and each instance looks completely different – and you can use it not only for donor/donation management, but also to track and report on any metrics you follow. Licenses aren’t cheap but Salesforce is robust enough to give you the data return on your investment.

TechSoup – Calling all 501(c)(3) nonprofits! If you aren’t registered with TechSoup and taking advantage of their software discounts (and refurbished hardware too!), YOU ARE MISSING OUT! They offer tons of discounts (Like, 90% off retail! Like, $10 MS Office licenses!) that can help set you up for success.

Auditor – I know of a handful of auditors that I’ve worked with over the years who specialize in nonprofits, do great work, and truly care about helping the organizations they work with to be best-in-class. Reach out and I’m happy to share!

I hope this helped you get started! If you know of another must-have tool that’s not included on this list, please let me know. I’d love to vet it and add it to my next resource list.

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Getting the right people on the bus

by with No Comment Featured BlogPeople

We all know Jim Collins and Good to Great, right? If so, then we know how important bringing the right people into the organization is. If not, go here to catch up then meet me back here!

I recently found this article, How to Hire Like a Superboss, on Harvard Business Review, one of my favorite lunchtime reads. It talks about bosses hiring and finding employees in non-traditional ways; in other words, outside of HR, no resumes or cover letters in sight.

I like it.

Who a person is, how they will perform, what types of ideas they create, is really hard to effectively capture on paper for the interviewer. It’s also hard to appropriately convey when you’re trapped in an uncomfortable heels in a stuffy room full of strangers grilling you on your grad school coursework. I’ve been in interviews where the interviewers went in a circle around the table, recited a pre-rehearsed question, listened to my answer, then the next person asked their pre-rehearsed question. I wanted to get up and scream, Stop! Can’t we just talk? This isn’t me! Let me tell you about WHO I AM! I left that interview feeling like they didn’t get to know me one bit and like I had no clue about the culture of the organization, other than robotic.

I think we need a balance though. We need something between simply liking someone and hiring them then figuring out later what they can do (um, let’s first define the business need for hiring them, please!) and a terribly formal, rote interview process where we learn virtually nothing about the candidate except canned answers to boring questions.

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Here are some tips to help you get the right people on the bus:

Treat the interview like a conversation.

Create a list of questions to guide you but let the conversation go where it goes. Don’t obsess with taking notes on every single answer; look your candidates in the eye, ask probing follow-up questions and try to learn who they are. Their grad school transcript will not be indicative of their success in the organization; let’s assume they’ve made it this far because on paper they are absolutely qualified. Can you imagine communicating with them daily? Working on a high-impact project together? Watching them interact with your board or other stakeholders? How do you feel about all this?

Ask the right questions.

Speaking of questions, don’t ask stupid ones (or illegal ones!). If you were stuck in a jar, what kind of fruit would you want in there with you? is ridiculous and tells you nothing about the person. Don’t try to be funny or clever. Here are some great pointers on asking the right questions. I especially love the forward-thinking questions: outline your plan for this job or forecast the evolution of this job.

Be mindful of formality but don’t be uptight.

The nonprofit field can vary wildly in terms of formality. I’ve seen everything from the Monday through Friday suit and tie crowd to leggings and hoodies all be acceptable. As an interviewer, I expect job candidates to put effort into their appearance and show me you care about the job. I do not expect, however, ultimate formality. I’m not deducting mental points if you don’t have a leather folio (I actually despite those things!) or perfectly coordinated belt, shoes and bag. Be yourself and dress like you care, that’s all!

Invite other departments/groups to participate.

When it comes to hiring, more minds can be better than just one. Notice I said “can be better” – please do not have a search committee of ten people. That will be chaos. It’s important to get other departments’ perspectives on how this person would fit into the organization since it’s unlikely she will work alone 100% of the time. How does this finance person come across to non-finance people? Does his communication come across as effective or arrogant?

How does your organization handle the recruiting process? Need help creating a process? Or maybe just filling a role or two? Call me; I can help!

More resources:

 

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Performance reviews: to ditch or to keep?

by with No Comment Featured BlogPeople

Over the past several months, I’ve seen tons of articles come across my desk about companies ditching the annual performance review. GE is the big one. Instead of a formal review process where they used to simply hack off the bottom 10% of performers (talk about archaic and heartless!), they have an app which encourages constant 360 degree feedback.

I am so on the fence about this!

What happens if you have a manager who’s busy, doesn’t like using the app, doesn’t know how to give feedback or simply doesn’t care about the employee’s development? Are managers held accountable for providing feedback to their employees? I’m assuming not, since they’re not being formally reviewed either. Sounds like the employee really gets the short end of the stick here.

To me, this isn’t an either/or situation. We need a culture of both frequent feedback and annual performance reviews.

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On frequent feedback:

We need to better train our managers on how to give feedback. It’s easy to tell someone they’re doing a good job (although we probably don’t do it often enough) but it’s much harder to tell someone they need to improve. Managers get uncomfortable with conflict and leave the tough conversations to the annual performance review.

If the frequent feedback we’re giving is negative, make sure to document it. Send a quick recap email to the employee about your conversation. If performance doesn’t improve and you need to terminate the employee, you want everything documented clearly. Just wearing my HR hat over here!

As the leader of the organization, promote a culture of frequent feedback. Publicly praise employees when they’ve gone above and beyond! Institute a recognition system for star performers! When other managers see you doling out feedback (when deserved of course), they will do the same.

Your best employees are ones that want to improve. Giving them frequent feedback throughout the year allows them to make real-time adjustments to working style or output which will bring your middle-of-the-road performers to the top. And that just means a higher functioning organization – win-win!

On the annual performance review:

I think these babies need to stay. They are a formal, structured way to dole out salary increases based on cold, hard, documented facts. It makes me itchy to think about a system in which raise amounts, timing and rationale aren’t documented or consistent.

Annual reviews give no excuses to managers or employees. Both are forced to think about big picture goals, long-term development and how the employee can best contribute to the organization. Isn’t strategic thinking a good thing?

Maybe we simply need to revamp our performance review process? Do away with the seventeen-page document of rate on a scale of 1 to 5 and repetitive, confusing questions and instead talk about:

  • Where the employee really knocked it out of the park
  • Times they felt like they weren’t performing up to par
  • How they want to/can best contribute over the next year
  • What is their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)

So what do you think? Ditch the reviews or should they be here to stay?

 

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A Monday morning chuckle

by with No Comment AnnouncementsFeatured Blog

…because who wants to dive into their email right away on a Monday?!

I subscribe to a lot of blogs – home design, fashion, healthy living, running, cooking, business, finance, nonprofit – because my interests clearly run the gamut. Of course, this means my Feedly is out of control on a daily basis but having that arsenal of reading material is perfect for waiting rooms. One of my favorite blogs is Nonprofit with Balls – this guy has a hilarious take on our work in the nonprofit world.

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Anyway, he wrote a hilarious post about common nonprofit terms and what they really mean (which totally apply to any industry). Here are some of my favorites:

Board meeting package: Something we spend 12 hours preparing, that 0 to 2 board members will read

Engaged board: The board will micromanage all of the things that don’t matter, like which shade of grey the supply room should be painted, but will disappear when something important, like fundraising, needs to be done.

Logic Model: Our work distilled into a one-page chart using 3-point font for Type-A individuals

Best practice: We read an article once

Strategic planning: We’re gonna make some stuff up about how the next 5-10 years are going to shakedown. Then, we’re going to do something totally different within 6 months of the plan.

Conference call: 1 person speaking, everyone else on mute doing other work/checking Facebook

So-and-so is a visionary leader: So-and-so sucks at details and drops the ball a lot

Flexible work schedule: You may work whatever hours you like, as long as they add up to 60 hours per week

Leadership opportunity: A challenging project we are going to talk you into doing (without you realizing it) that is in addition to and mostly unrelated to your actual job responsibilities

Collaborative working environment: We have meetings every minute of every day

Grassroots organization: Place filled with people who care so darn much about making a difference that they knowingly take this job – with joy – understanding full well that all the above comments are true.

Hope this gave you a good chuckle. Check out the full list here!

Do any of these ring true for you? Do you need someone who doesn’t suck at details? I’m here for you!