Today, we are talking about “the Mission” and “the Margin” — two very key concepts for success in a non-profit that can also be competing priorities. I offer guidance and outline three important questions to ask yourself that will help you balance the mission and the margin. Watch today’s Money Monday Moments video for more (and skim the transcript below).
Dana Miller (00:01): Welcome to another rendition of Monday Money Moments with myself, your host, Dana Miller of Executive Financial Insights.
(00:09): Today, we are going to talk a little bit about “the mission” and “the margin.” Two very key concepts for success in a non-profit. Your mission as a non-profit is to change the world, to ease suffering, to bring joy. It could be any number of mission statements that you may have. However, as a nonprofit CFO, you also have a competing priority and that priority is the margin.
(00:46): So you have your competing priorities are the mission and the margin. And the margin meaning you need to make some money to be able to deliver your mission. And I want to remind you that the non-profit organization, N P O as it’s called, is a tax status. It is not your goal. You can, as a non-profit, make money, you can make a substantial amount of money. The one thing you cannot do as a non-profit is take that money out for personal use. Why would you? You can use that money for furthering your mission, expanding your mission. So, mission is critical. It’s why you are here. Margin is critical to being able to deliver that mission.
(01:43): What I would like you to do over the next week is ask yourself these super important questions, three questions. There are many more that we could be asking, but these three questions are gonna help you focus in on mission and margin.
(01:58): 1. The first is what other opportunities do you have in your organization to increase your revenues and possibly increase your margin?
(02:11): 2. What opportunities do you see to maximize or better use your expenses? Again, to deliver on the mission and improve the margin, which is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
(02:31): 3. And the third question is, are you delivering on the right mission? Are you using your resources for the best that they can be used for? And which programs are you doing that deliver on your mission and is it right for your organization?
(02:52): So if you’d like to have further discussions about this, you can certainly reach out to me here at www.executivefinancialinsights.com. Thank you. And we’ll chat with you soon.
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