Financial Planning EZ - Hardcover

by Jody Blazek (Author)

Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy presents straightforward strategies to make financial management a more smooth and successful process. Filled with practical forms and checklists to aid you in planning and managing your organizations' financial resources, Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy equips your nonprofit with step-by-step solutions to the dilemmas involved in keeping financial resources and the mission in balance.

Front Jacket

Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy

"Financial planning for nonprofits, like a nonprofit's very purpose for existence, is based upon the philosophical aspirations of persons joining together to accomplish mutual goals. The very purpose for existence of a nonprofit is based on hope, sometimes on prayer, and almost always on dreams...The challenge is to stretch and balance precious resources to best accomplish the dream. Together, the two functions--performing the mission and providing the requisite resources--work in tandem to sustain the nonprofit's existence."
--From Chapter 1 of Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy

Are charities wisely using resources to fulfill their missions? Or, are they more concerned about the end of this year, at the future's expense? Good financial planning has always been essential for nonprofits, and nonprofit managers are beginning to realize just how essential, as they face intense competition for a shrinking fund base.

Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy presents straightforward strategies to make financial management a more smooth and successful process. Including a glossary of tax and financial terms unique to nonprofits, this book explores:

• The process of preparing and monitoring budgets

• How to monitor cash flow to maximize the yield on cash and other invest-ment assets

• Financial records and the decisions an organization makes in establishing its accounting systems

• Ratio analysis techniques useful in pinpointing weaknesses and identifying hidden trends

• The criteria for, and the means ofobtaining and retaining, special tax treatment

Filled with practical forms and checklists to aid nonprofit managers in planning and managing their organizations' financial resources, Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy equips nonprofits with step-by-step solutions to the dilemmas involved in keeping financial resources and the mission in balance.

Back Jacket

An essential guide to understanding the basics of nonprofit financial planning, written by a well-known and respected name in the field

Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy provides proven and practical techniques to improve your nonprofit's financial planning. Drawing upon her extensive experience in the financial management of nonprofits, author and nonprofit financial expert Jody Blazek:

• Discusses how to structure your organization for fiscal strength
• Arms readers with easy-to-use procedures that make financial management a more streamlined and effective process
• Describes reliable methods for maximizing resources
• Provides worksheets, forms, and checklists to enable nonprofits to manage their organization's precious financial resources
• Enables nonprofit professionals to evaluate financial reporting systems, GAAP and FASK, internal controls and the auditing process
• Covers major functional issues in financial planning including roles and responsibilities, budgeting, asset management, and financial analysis

Nonprofit Financial Planning Made Easy is a must-read for directors, managers, trustees, accountants, lawyers, and anyone involved in the financial livelihood of a nonprofit organization. Written in the light of increased scrutiny and accountability of nonprofits, this indispensable book coaches readers in the essentials of financial planning and supplies easy-to-use tools, concepts, and techniques for the financial management of nonprofits of every size and type.

Author Biography

JODY BLAZEK (Houston, TX) is a partner in Blazek & Vetterling, LLP, a Houston-based CPA firm providing tax compliance and auditing services to tax-exempt organizations and tax consulting services to other accountants and lawyers who serve nonprofits. The author worked with the 1023 Revision Task Force, is currently on the 990 Revision Task Force, and is past chair of the AICPA Exempt Organization Resource Panel. Jody serves on the Transparency and Financial Accountability Work Group of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector of Independent Sector. She is a member of the Exempt Organization Tax Review and the AICPA Tax Adviser advisory boards. She is founding director of the Texas Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts and the Houston Artists Fund. Her focus on tax-exempts began in 1969 when, at KPMG, she advised private foundation clients about the significant changes in the tax rules. She gained nonprofit industry experience as the treasurer of the Menil Interests before returning to public practice in 1980 to form the firm she now serves.