Designing Nonprofit Systems to Build Community Power
VII. Tracking Your Progress
Getting your first major grant or reaching an initial fundraising milestone is absolutely a reason to celebrate. But it also signals a moment to create a core part of your organizational infrastructure–a financial management system that tracks your expenses and growth over time. For nonprofit leaders busy with pushing toward your vision and mission, taking the time and space to develop a financial management system can feel overwhelming or burdensome. But it's a critical step for so many reasons. It allows you to assess how your fundraising goals align with your work, to anticipate when you can add new programs or staff, and more.
Ready to track your growth?
As your funding requests begin to be accepted, it will be crucial to track income and how resources are spent–so that you can continue to effectively fundraise for additional costs and report accurately back to funders. This spreadsheet template was created by our finance team to provide our clients with a comprehensive framework and tool for that task.