For Sponsors that want to turn their financial data into a strategic asset.

How do you view your organization’s financial data and reporting? Is it a necessary evil? Something to be treasured? Or is it somewhere in between?

As a fiscal sponsor, you know that one of the more challenging aspects of this work is understanding what’s really going on “under the hood” of your organization. In the age of COVID-19, that challenge is only amplified.

But unlike most nonprofits, that have one, or maybe a handful of programs, as a fiscal sponsor, you have a much larger challenge: managing the health of your organization means understanding what’s going on financially at the project level. 

And if you have more than a handful of projects, that gets very complicated, very quickly, and introduces financial risk. If fiscal sponsors fail to accurately plan for growth, staff may be overwhelmed by the high volume of work and the ability to serve projects may decrease due to low staffing capacity. If fiscal sponsors fail to accurately plan for financial contraction, staffing cuts may be necessary if revenue fails to meet expectations.

No matter how your organization currently handles its financials, at some point, you’ve probably thought, “There has to be a better way.”

And there is.

What if your financial reports and forward-looking budgets could:

  • give you a true understanding of your organization’s risk profile?
  • break out your projects into meaningful groups, based on the dimensions that are important to your organization?
  • assess each project’s past growth and future growth potential?
  • give you an understanding which types of funding sources are meeting or exceeding expectations — and which are falling short?
  • and the real brass ring  — enable you to make more informed decisions about staffing, resource deployment, and your organization’s expenses?

At this point, maybe you’re asking, “Is this really possible?”

While there are no silver bullets, there are ways to review and analyze your historical data to help provide insights into what you should be looking for and considering in the near future.

With this service, you will have an expert to:

  • conduct a financial analysis of your project portfolio to help your organization better understand its current risk profile and how to build resilience
  • develop a custom project categorization blueprint to give your management and Board deeper insights into how different groups of projects are performing
  • provide a set of templates and tools to allow your team to evolve the initial analysis and continue to track the organization’s portfolio

Are you curious to hear what others have said about this service? Here’s Karen Stokes, former CEO of Strong City Baltimore:

“Since (our) fees were based on the amount of funding brought in by projects, it was essential to develop an understanding – based on history – about how much in the way of fees would come in each year. Having this information was essential to make better informed decisions about hiring additional staff, and purchasing additional financial software to respond to client requests. As client revenues expanded, especially via government grants, Josh’s analysis projected that reimbursements would likely become delayed based on the revenue source.

Josh is smart, collegially, and realistic, never painting a rosy picture just because everyone wants growth. Instead his financial analysis took into consideration the potential risks associated with growth of the projects and the fiscal sponsor.

He always provided both succinct written narratives, as well as spreadsheets laying out his financial costs and fee analysis, which were easily understood by staff, board, and clients. I highly recommend his approach to doing fee assessments which can then be translated into developing a realistic organizational business plan.”

Wouldn’t you like to have the peace of mind that comes with understanding the operational and funding risks associated with your fiscal sponsorship program?

  • The fee for this assessment is $6,000-$7,500 depending on your specific needs.
  • The assessment can usually be completed about 6-8 weeks, depending on availability (yours and ours). If you need your analysis turned around more quickly, let us know and we’ll see what’s possible.

Have a question about our Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment? Please see the FAQ below or email us at hello@schulmanconsulting.com.

Schulman Consulting is excited to partner with Josh Clement to provide this service. Josh is a former Grants and Development Manager at Strong City Baltimore. While at Strong City, he designed a new approach to financial analysis, which he has since brought to others in our sector.

And if you’re ready to get started, click the blue button below to schedule your introductory phone call.

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FAQ

What is the Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment?

  • The Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment is a consulting engagement to help your organization understand the current state of your fiscal sponsorship portfolio, how that impacts the bottom-line, and how to more effectively plan for the future. This assessment also includes tools to continuously track the financial health of the organization at the detailed project level. 

Who is the Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment for?

  • The Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment is for fiscal sponsors with at least 20 projects and/or $500,000 in annual project revenue that are growing and want to hone their organization’s approach to fiscal sponsorship by understanding their risk as well as their projects’ potential and differing needs.

How does this work?

  • Once you schedule your introductory call we’ll get on the phone for 30 minutes to talk through your current situation. After that call, we’ll follow up with a specific list of data sets that we require to do this analysis. We will be in touch throughout the process and once the analysis is complete, we’ll set up a time to walk through what we’ve found and recommendations for how your organization can move forward. We’ll also be available for 60 days following the sharing of the analysis by email or phone to answer your team’s questions.

How come I’ve never seen anything like this before?

  • There has never before been a consulting firm dedicated to the fiscal sponsorship community and focused on the operations of running a fiscal sponsor organization. With the specialized, industry-wide knowledge that we have (and continue to add to), we believe this service could benefit a variety of fiscal sponsorship providers.

How much does the Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment cost?

  • This fee for this assessment usually ranges between $6,000 and $7,500. By moving forward with any of these projects, you and we both agree to our terms of service.

What are the payment terms for the Risk and Resilience Financial Assessment?

  • Payments are usually made in two, equal installments — one before the work gets started and one just prior to the delivery of the final assessment.

What if I’m not happy with the results?

  • Our goal is to provide you and your team the peace of mind to offer this benefit to your projects as trouble free as possible. Our success is based on your success. If we get to the end of the project and you’re not satisfied with the results, we will make best efforts, to provide you with the information and resources that meet your needs.

You haven’t answered my question yet – how can I reach you?

  • The easiest way is to fill out the contact form over here, or you can email us at hi@schulmanconsulting.com

Ok, I’m ready to get started – what’s next?