(editor's note: Financial Matters is a monthly column designed to provide insight and tools to assist with nonprofit financial management. AJFCA's new corporate partner, CliftonLarsonAllen, an accounting and consulting firm with offices across the country, provides the commentary for this Financial Matters column.)

Nonprofits are no stranger to benchmarking. In a sector where donors want to know that their hard-earned money is being used effectively, and where positive outcomes are the ultimate measure of success, benchmarking is an essential tool for strategic planning. If a nonprofit doesn't benchmark its outcomes, there is probably an oversight agency that will do it for them.

Nonprofits use benchmarking analysis to uncover business processes and strategies, provide a baseline for improvement, and make data-informed decisions. Much of the information used to calculate key ratios for comparison with other organizations can be found in Form 990.

A great way of measuring the health of a nonprofit is to look at a combination of critical indicators over a period of time and in comparison with other organizations. For example, a social service organization may want to look at its program service revenues per full-time employee (FTE).

Faulty or inconsistent benchmarking results, however, are worse than no results at all. In fact, bad numbers can be harmful and lead to poor planning and decision making. Here are a few tips to get the most from benchmarking data.

*    Pick key ratios and critical indicators that make sense for your organization

*    Choose more than two indicators but fewer than 10

*    Measure at a specific point in time and over a period of time

*    Benchmark against carefully selected peers

*    Report all results, regardless of the outcome

*    Present data to stakeholders in a clear but interesting manner

To learn more about benchmarking and receive a complimentary benchmarking report, visit CliftonLarsonAllen's on-line Financial Scan tool.  

JFS Edmonton Launches Major Fundraising Concert Series
  

Stay updated on AJFCA offerings, agency news & current trends . . .

         

  

The Jewish Response to Food Insecurity

When it comes to relieving the effects of poverty, the work of Jewish charitable organizations has traditionally centered on the most vulnerable groups within the community. In central and eastern Europe, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and World Jewish Relief (WJR) among others have provided and continue to provide assistance in terms of food, winter fuel, and medical care to children and the elderly, including survivors of the Holocaust. Click here to read about a new crisis that has befallen Europe: the crisis of food insecurity.

Canada Awards Design for National Holocaust Monument

The design "Landscape of Loss, Memory and Survival" presented by Team Lord of Toronto has been selected for the future National Holocaust Monument, which will be located in Ottawa.Team Lord's submission was selected from among six finalists who were invited to present their design concepts to a jury of professionals and to the public as part of a national design competition. The future National Holocaust Monument will be prominently located in the core of Canada's Capital, at the corner of Wellington and Booth Streets. The monument site faces the iconic Canadian War Museum and will ensure the lessons of the Holocaust remain within the national consciousness. The official inauguration of the main elements of the monument is scheduled for fall 2015.

Staffing, Not Stigma, Is Biggest Fundraising Challenge for Mental-Health Charities

Stigma is not the main factor holding mental-health charities back in their efforts to attract donors, says a study of more than 100 fundraisers for such groups. Instead, inadequate staffing is the biggest obstacle fundraisers mentioned when asked to rank their top five challenges. Stigma scored the lowest. Continue reading here.

We do not evaluate new initiatives adequately nor do we always report on our findings honestly, whether these initiatives are small, local efforts or multi-year, multi-million dollar initiatives. Click here to learn the five reasons why new initiatives fail.

The 2014 AJFCA & IAJVS Annual Conference was a success thanks to the hospitality of the host community, Agence Ometz, our talented speakers and presenters and enthusiastic attendees and supportive sponsors. If you have not already done so, please share your conference feedback with us.
Conference presentations and continuing education credit (CEU) evaluation forms can be found here.

View photos from the conference on AJFCA's Facebook page. Don't forget to tag yourself and comment!

If you attended the CEO Council Post Conference Event on Tuesday, May 6th, and have not yet responded to the survey, please click here.

Join AJFCA for a Jay Nolan Community Services Webinar, My Home - My Life: Transforming a Traditional Agency to an Agency Supporting Personalization and Individualization with Jeff Strully. This session is the second in a three-part series of webinars presented by the National Task Force on Alternative Residential Options for Adults with Disabilities in the Jewish Community. A more detailed description of the webinar can be found here.
 

Few of us working in the social impact space could admit to utilizing storytelling to its fullest potential. Meanwhile, digital technology has changed the game. We're far more connected to stories and information than we have ever been, yet the noise and ubiquity of the digital world makes it harder to surface and share personal stories of change and impact. While there have never been more ways to reach audiences, it has also never been more difficult to really reach them. Learn more here.

Bringing Millennials Through Our Doors

To get millennials in the door, we must first understand this cohort and then develop outreach based on that understanding. To involve young adults today, an organization must be active on digital and social media. And while young adults are tied to technology, they also want to be cultivated face to face. They yearn to interact with peers and create new networks, volunteer on the ground getting their hands dirty, and feel the direct impact of their involvement. They might prefer a flat organizational structure rather than the hierarchical structure that their ancestors used. They want to be involved in leadership roles and organizational decision-making, immediately. Continue reading here.

COA Current Field Comment

The Council On Accreditations' (COA) Standards undergo review and comment by hundreds of professionals while they are posted on the COA website during a Field Comment period. Please take a moment to review COA's Standards currently undergoing field comment.

• Performance and Quality Improvement (PQI) (being revised)
• Supervised Visitation and Exchange (new section)