One thing I’ve found helpful is to prioritize daily, weekly and monthly tasks on a quarterly basis. The ability to juggle financial stability can definitely be an art rather than science. Our team is dedicated towards fulfilling individual roles and responsibilities which in turn fulfill collective goals. One person isn’t working solo but collectively to achieve our mission and ultimately ensure positive youth development while increasing protective factors in our community.

When leading a non profit and looking atvthe financial balancing , you first have to accept that you can only work with the budget that you have and having an honoustnlook on what you are doing as an ngo to increase the incoming budget & accepting that for sure, you wish to do more but are not able to sometimes, also overextending yourself is sometimes an issue. Before the NGO starts a project, we first have to have the finances to run the project and we dont start before this. Through the years,this has become the most valuable lesson that we have learned over the past years..

I am going to focus on the Art. As others have already covered the Science bit 1)Relationship building: Foster relationships with key stakeholders. Break it down to daily tasks, use a diary and online platforms. But don't just focus on social media. Be personal. Be real. 2) Mission Driven Focus : staying true to the organisations central values especially means being able to motivate volunteers, staff and donors to keep them excited about the core values and they work that you do. This links back to point one, how do you communicate your values and foster those relationships? 3)Priorities and Adaptation, Economies of scale mean we don't have unlimited resources, prioritise your time, and resources and remain be prepared to adapt

I have found that understanding the mission statement is not just a simple way but a crucial strategy to keep finances in sync with an organization's goals. It's a solid foundation for financial management/ When everyone fully understands the mission from many vantage points or audiences, each member, from volunteer to director, keeps it at the forefront of their minds, locked between their eyes and ears, forever in their brain. More will reap the benefits when everyone is clear about what to expect of the organization to advance its mission versus how much is spent on overhead. Recently, I discovered an organization that spends 98 cents of each dollar directly on the people its mission. This is the gold standard.

So what I have found is when it comes to tasks you have to break things down into monthly, weekly and "back-burner" tasks. Using external apps are really helpful for this and reviewing these every Friday to set up your following week is a discipline. Finances need to be a weekly or at least bi-weekly priority in terms of cash flow and ensuring the finance & operations depts are in sync with each other. There needs to be a fine balance between the both but ensuring everyone knows their role at senior level and bringing this to a weekly meeting helps ensure stability.