Transcript Episode 144 – Public Relations for Nonprofits: Your Questions Answered with Caitlin Copple and Holly Conti on The Prosperous Nonprofit

Stephanie Skryzowski: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Prosperous Nonprofit, the podcast for leaders who are building financially sustainable and impactful nonprofits and changing the world. I’m Stephanie Skrzewski, a chief financial officer and founder and CEO of 100 Degrees Consulting. My personal mission is to empower leaders to better understand their numbers, to grow their impact and their income.

On this show, we talk to people who are leading the nonprofit sector in new, innovative, disruptive and entrepreneurial ways, creating organizations that fuel their lives, their hearts and their communities. Let’s dive in.

Hey friends. Oh my gosh, I am so excited to be here with you today on The Prosperous Nonprofit. And if you don’t know why, it’s because Our Black Friday deal on Master Your Nonprofit Numbers is [00:01:00] here. Yes, our online course, Master Your Nonprofit Numbers is 50 percent off for one week only, Tuesday, November 21st through Tuesday, November 28th.

We are offering Master Your Nonprofit Numbers at 50 percent off the normal price of 497 and right now is 50 percent off using the code of Black Friday 50. So it’s going to be back to full price on November 29th. So make sure you hop in now. I wanted to record a special quick episode. First of all, to tell you about this, because if you’re not getting our emails, we are telling you all about it via email, but if you’re not getting our emails, then you’re probably not going to hear about it.

So I wanted to make sure to jump in and tell you about this now. I want to give you a little idea about what Master Your Nonprofit Numbers is all about. Now, you know that I am all about building a prosperous nonprofit organization and we do that through building more prosperous selves as leaders, [00:02:00] right?

I talk all kinds of things about leadership development and time management and communication and self care and all the things. We want to build more prosperous teams, right? Taking care of our teams and building a strong organizational culture. And we want to build a more prosperous organization. And one way to do that is to really get a handle on your numbers, right?

We know at this point, you know, by listening to me talking, That you can make better, smarter, more strategic decisions when you’re using your numbers to help inform those decisions, right? We can use our numbers to forecast and predict our revenue and our expenses and our cash flow. We can use our numbers to make sure that we are being effective and efficient stewards of the resources that we have been entrusted with, right?

And I know. Um, all of that, you know, all of that, but you might be still feeling held back because you don’t really understand your numbers, right? [00:03:00] Your income statement, your balance sheet, it may feel like total gibberish to you. And I feel you like you asked me to do anything on the backend of WordPress on our website and my mind just like scrambles into a hot mess and I have no idea what I’m doing.

And you might feel that way with your numbers. That is exactly why I created master your nonprofit numbers, this course on financial management for nonprofit leaders. And I created it with you in mind with that person who doesn’t have an accounting degree, who doesn’t really even like math or spreadsheets very much, but knows the value of understanding.

And communicating your numbers. So I built a clear and simple program that really, really works. It doesn’t require any accounting knowledge, no background in finance. And it was made for you, the busy nonprofit leader who’s wearing all the hats. So clarity, confidence, simplicity is the name of our game. So let me tell you a little bit about what [00:04:00] this is.

This is an online course. Once you purchase, you get access to the website where it’s hosted and you log in and you’ve got access to move throughout this entire program at your own pace. It does not expire, so you have access to it, you know, indefinitely, forever. And there are different modules. Then within each module there are different lessons for you and within each of those there’s a video with audio so you can listen to it like a podcast.

You can watch it like a video and there are slides. There are lots of links to different spreadsheet templates and tools and so for example when I’m talking about creating a forecast, I’m not like, okay, now open up a blank Excel spreadsheet and good luck. No, no, no, no, no. My friends, I have a template for you.

So I’m cutting out like half the work here, right? All you have to do is grab our template and implement that and customize it to your own organization for all of these different pieces. So the [00:05:00] different modules that we have are related to tools and systems. Like what software do you need to really manage an efficient finance department?

Who should be on your finance team? We have a whole lesson about your finance team. Like what’s the controller? Do you need one of those? Do you need a CFO? What is shirt your bookkeeper would be doing versus your auditor. And then we also have a module on creating a monthly finance routine. So like, what things do you need to be doing on a monthly basis to make sure that you’re not forgetting something, right?

One of the biggest challenges I hear from nonprofit leaders is like, I don’t know what I don’t know. I’m afraid that I’m missing something. Right. And you don’t want to get dinged in your audit. You don’t want to lose your funding because you’ve missed like this journal entry that you were supposed to be doing that you had no idea about.

Right. And so that’s what that particular module helps you with. So we talk all about really building a strong financial foundation. The next piece that we’re talking about, and there’s modules. Several different, five different [00:06:00] modules around using your numbers as a management tool, right? Because budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting are essential parts of managing a nonprofit, but maybe you’re feeling lost on like where to even start with a cash flow forecast or what in the world does this balance sheet actually mean, right?

So this whole section tackles those challenges and it, you feel. So much clearer on exactly what your financial statements mean. So we talk about budgeting. There’s a whole module all about budgeting. We talk about cashflow, creating a revenue strategy. And the strategy is not just like raise as much money as we can.

There’s actually a strategy. We talk about financial reporting. What do your reports mean? How can you make smarter, more strategic decisions using those reports and then. This is like one of my favorite modules is managing your restricted funding really, really well. Right. This is an area that I have seen a lot of nonprofits get into trouble with is managing your restricted funding.

[00:07:00] Well, so we have a whole module on that. And then finally, the last piece is, um, really the external piece of like how we’re using our financials externally. And so we talk about your audit, how to ace your audit. We talk about your nine 90 and how to use it as a marketing tool, not just this mandatory Giant pain in the butt form that you have to fill out every year.

And we talk about your board and their finance and governance duties as well. So lots of good stuff in here. We also talked a little bit about strategic planning and there’s some extra resources in here too. So I kind of just went through everything that’s in there. Now it’s not too much, right? I, we didn’t want to overwhelm you.

I feel like I could. Um, do so much more. I can make this like a master’s level course on how CFO, but I’ve really tried to keep it simple, straightforward, and giving you only the most actionable pieces that you can instantly, instantly implement in your organization. So that’s everything [00:08:00] that’s inside. Um, there are 11 modules and even if you just spend like an hour a week on them, you could get through the entire course in less than three months.

So totally, totally doable. Now, listen. Managing your finances is a key skill of almost everybody in your organization. If you’re the executive director or the CEO, it is a 100 percent your job. It’s really important for you. Or maybe you are the fundraising lead, right? Maybe you’re a chief development officer and, or you’re the development manager.

Well, you need to know the finances too, right? You may be holding yourself back from funding opportunities and. Possibly miss, like just completely missing out on funding opportunities and, or not really operating super efficiently. If you don’t know what is inside your numbers, right? If you don’t have a forecast helping you predict what is coming down the pike.

And that’s [00:09:00] exactly what this course aims to do, right? We want to give you like resume building knowledge and skills that are not only going to help advance your mission, right, of your organization and create more impact in your organization because you have a better handle on your numbers, but also advance your career, right?

We give you a certificate at the end that says you’ve completed Master Your Nonprofit Numbers. That you can, you know, put it on your LinkedIn profile, right? So there are, oh my gosh, there are so many benefits. There are so many benefits of this course and the normal price is 4. 97. And like I said, right now it is on sale for 2.

percent off. This is the only time we ever offer the course this low from Tuesday, November 21st to Tuesday, November 28th. Now. I’m sending out an email this week with a couple frequently asked questions. And so again, if you’re not on our email list, my friend, you are missing out. I send a lot of good stuff over there, but I want to [00:10:00] answer some of these questions.

And so you might be thinking, we’ll do a little, a little, uh, series of you might be thinking, is there a deadline to finish the course? I have no time. Listen, unlike those pesky grant applications with super quick turnarounds, you have access to this course indefinitely. So if you are in the middle of budgeting right now, or you know that you need to dive into budgeting very shortly, go right to the budgeting module.

You can do that. Or if you’re about to undergo your first organizational audit, or maybe your first audit as executive director of this organization, and you’re like, Oh my gosh, what do I need to know about audit? Go right to the audit module, right? No deadline to finish. You can do this at your own pace and take what you need.

Honestly, I have been told that even just the forecasting template is worth the entire 497 alone, let alone all the other stuff, let alone the 50 percent discount. The next question I get, you might be thinking, Is this right for me? I’m a development director. [00:11:00] I’m the chief program officer. Is this right for me?

And my answer is, if you are a nonprofit professional, then this course is right for you, right? It is vitally important. You hear me talking all the time about transparency. It is vitally important for everyone in the organization to understand your numbers, right? That’s going to help us be more impactful, more sustainable.

You’re going to be, have greater engagement from your team if everybody really understands the finances. So no matter your position. This is for you. This is a great, great professional development opportunity. So this is the only discount, like I said, it’s the only discount we offer all year. Make sure you use code BlackFriday50.

And oh my gosh, friends, I haven’t even told you the website yet, NonprofitNumbers. com. So if you’re like, yes, I’m done, I don’t need to hear any more, go to NonprofitNumbers. com and you can use the code BlackFriday50 to get 50 percent off. So NonprofitNumbers. com, BlackFriday50. Okay. Okay. Keeping going through my frequently asked questions.

[00:12:00] Will this work for my super unique nonprofit, right? Everybody feels like their organization is unique. And what I will say is that most 501c3 organizations are subject to the same standards and we really all have similar challenges. So I believe that our templates and our lessons are going to be able to help you in some way, shape, or form.

So no matter your niche, no matter your mission. Your nonprofit needs financial sustainability to make an impact. Right? So I believe that this program will help no matter how unique and special your nonprofit is. Okay, another question I get, you might be thinking, how are the materials presented? I don’t like videos or I don’t like reading.

I don’t want like a big long ebook I have to read. Listen, no worries. I’ve thought of you all, I think. So the program includes videos. That is like the main piece of content and the videos are me. Teaching using slides, but I realize some people don’t want to just [00:13:00] sit and watch videos. So I have also created a full audio only feed like a podcast, which is freaking awesome.

So you can listen to it the way that you listen to a podcast, just audio. There’s also transcripts of every single lesson. So if you want to read the lesson instead, if you want to read my words instead of listening, you’ve got that as well. Plus there’s of course, worksheets and templates. It’s like Excel templates and things within.

So there’s really something for every style of learning because I recognize that I know I myself, I’ve taken a lot of online courses and I don’t necessarily like sitting and watching videos for hours. I might want to maybe watch a video and then maybe I want to go hop on the treadmill and listen to the next one audio format.

So we have thought of all of you. Do you guarantee results? You might be thinking, do you guarantee results? Well, I mean, I can’t guarantee any particular results, right? However, I can tell you that a GuideStar study shows that transparent organizations receive 53 percent [00:14:00] more in contributions the following year.

So if you want to be more transparent about your numbers and learn how to better understand and share your financials with your stakeholders, you will be building trust with your donors, which will lead to more donations and a greater impact, right? All the wins. Everybody wins. So no, I can’t guarantee that by taking this 497 course, you’re going to raise another 5 million, but you will walk away with more clarity and more confidence in your financials, which can and will hopefully lead to increased fundraising, longer term grants, and longer sustainability and impact for your organization.

And finally, my last question, you might be thinking. Can I just find this on Google? I mean, you probably could, right? You probably could. You could Google. You could probably find all of the information that I have in this course on Google, but here’s the thing. That’s going to take you forever, right?

That’s going to take you forever. You are going to spend all your time searching and then having to customize what you [00:15:00] find for your organization or for your nonprofit or Um, still trying to Google to fill that gap of like, I don’t know what I don’t know. Right. Well, I’ve already pulled everything together for you.

So don’t waste your time. Right. We have very precious little of it. And so I would just encourage you don’t waste your time. Check out the course nonprofit numbers. com use code black Friday, 50 for 50 percent off through November 28th, only on November 29th, my friends at 12 o’clock Eastern standard time on.

November 29th, that is going back to four 97 and you will not see 50 percent off again until. Okay, so I hope that I have answered all of your questions and I wanted to share this with you as well. So I’ve worked with hundreds of nonprofits over the years, hundreds. And so I’ve seen organizations that have really strong financial management skills and organizations that don’t.

Um, so the ones with the, or strong [00:16:00] financial management skills are winning. big time, right? They’re obviously executing the mission. They’re obviously creating huge change in the communities or the populations that they’re serving, but they also have significant cash reserves to help them weather any storm, like literally four or five, six, eight months, 12 months of cash in the bank.

They have multi year funding from Many donors that help build sustainability and longevity. They get clean audits year after the year, making them even more desirable to funders. They have an engaged board and staff that can confidently share their financial story. They have a team that understands the budget and actively contributes towards the bottom line.

And they have a clear process for closing the books every single month and ensuring like the utmost accuracy of their numbers, like the organizations that have strong financial management skills are winning big time in these ways and like so many more. So listen, on the other hand, it is [00:17:00] very clear to me when organizations have not prioritized their financial management and what happens is they come to us right for their CFO and their bookkeeping services.

They come to us when they are. Desperate at risk of losing their 501c3 status, or maybe they already have, and now they’re scrambling to get it reinstated. They are desperate. Oftentimes they haven’t filed their 990 because they haven’t completed their audit and they haven’t completed their audit because they haven’t closed the books for the year and they haven’t closed the books for the year because they don’t have the right people on the team to close the books every month.

They don’t close the books every month because they don’t, don’t have the right systems in place. And all the while the board is either oblivious to the financial peril that they have put themselves into, or they don’t understand the gravity of the situation. Now I know, you know, maybe you’re one of those, the former organizations I was talking about where you’re winning big time because you really value financial management.

skills. But you would be surprised how many are not in that place, [00:18:00] right? They are desperate. So listen, master your non profit numbers can help with all of this. It is straightforward, approachable, it’s a way to understand the, you know, can be complex arena of non profit financial management and it helps you.

You feel comfortable with your financial statements and get clear on the status of your financial health. So listen, it is my mission and goal for 2023. Since the beginning of this year to get master your nonprofit numbers into the hands of as many leaders as possible. And so that’s why I’m offering this 50 percent off discount again, nonprofit numbers.

com code black Friday 50. We’ve made improvements to the program throughout the year, and I am offering a live strategy session via zoom. for everyone who joins us by Tuesday, November 28th. So you get 60 minutes with me. You can bring your questions and challenges. I will give you customized advice and support for everything that you can throw at me.

So listen, now’s the time to make a decision. [00:19:00] Right? Do you want this professional development? Do you want to really better understand your numbers, feel confident in them? And do you want to be one of those organizations that is winning big time because you have the financial management skills and strategy?

If you want that to be you, my friends, then I would love for you to join us over in Master Your Nonprofit Numbers. 50 percent off discount through November 28th, go to nonprofit numbers. com and use the code black Friday 50. Okay. I’m really excited to see you in there. I think you’re just going to find this so, so valuable.

We’ve had hundreds of people go through the program already and have just gotten really, really great results and found so much clarity in things that felt really, really fuzzy before. And so. I’m going to leave you there. I hope to see you in there and I hope to see you during that live strategy session in December.

Um, as soon as you join, we will send you the date so you can mark on your calendar, also be recorded, but that’s just [00:20:00] an incredible bonus in addition to the 50 percent off, which also rocks. Okay, friends. I hope you enjoyed this extra special little episode all about the importance of mastering your nonprofit numbers.

So one more time, nonprofit numbers. com. Use the code black Friday, 15, and it is good from November 21st through November 28th, 2023. All right, friends. Thank you so much for being here as always. I appreciate you so, so, so, so much, and I will catch you next time. Bye y’all.

Before you go, I just want to thank you for being here. To access our show notes and bonus content, visit 100degreespodcast. com. That’s 100degreespodcast. com. And I’ll see you next time.

thank you for being here. To access our show notes and bonus content, visit 100degreespodcast. com. That’s 100degreespodcast. com and I’ll see you next time.