Saving Money in Nonprofit Organizations: More than 100 Money-Saving Ideas, Tips, and Strategies for Reducing Expenses Without Cutting Your Budget (Jossey Bass Nonprofit & Public Management Series)

By Gregory J. Dabel

Book Overview

A very practical, walk-away-with-dozens-of-new-ideas book fornonprofit managers who face the constant challenge of increasingincome and reducing expenses. The author not only encourages goodfiscal management, he motivates the reader and provides a road mapfor saving a lot of money.
--John Pearson, CEO, Christian Management Association

A straightforward, no-nonsense guide to streamlining expenseswithout sacrificing valuable programs and services.

Even in a good national economy, nonprofit organizations can havetight financial constraints. And since most nonprofits are alreadyoperating close to the fiscal balance line, they feel the financialpinch sooner and more acutely than business or government when theeconomy takes a downward spin.

This nuts-and-bolts resource will help you find ways to:

--Effectively balance your budget

--Minimize spending through thirty general money-saving principlesand opportunities

--Maximize your organization's various assets

--Save money on personnel costs without firing anyone

--Reduce office equipment and supply costs

--Negotiate the best possible price with vendors--Develop long- andshort-term strategies for expense reduction

--Create an action plan as well as a cost-saving team

The money-saving tips that Gregory Dabel presents in this usefulguide will benefit even those organizations whose revenues arethriving. Saving Money in Nonprofit Organizations is forprofessionals who are ready to take action and improve theirfinancial bottom lines.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787945153
• ISBN13: 9780787945152
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.2" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

This book saves money AND an organization's existence

The upside of working for a non-profit is getting to act on your beliefs for the public good while still getting paid. The downside is that working for the public good necessitates tight budgets. Changing the world IS expensive, but can be done with thoughtful planning. Sharply at odds with a 'fat cat' image of politics, the non profit MUST know how to make the most use of their organization's resources in order to remain relevant to their service area and organization mission statements. Reading this book reminded me of an organization I had worked with because they started out with noble intentions, but ultimately folded only because the other staff did not understand the necessity of budgeting or how non-profits differ from private-sector corporate charity initiatives. I'm sure that Dabel has his own horror stories of an organization which forgot to balance idealism with fiscal prudence, but such reminiscing is not the focus of this book. Instead, Dabel provides simple, ready-to-do steps which most non-profits can and should easily undertake. The best organization committed to the best cause in the world will be ineffective when it does not have money for campaign supplies or even an organizing space. Although he does mention the role which volunteers and interns can play in advancing an organization's goals while lowering the economic overhead, Dabel did not appear to fully appreciate their potential range of contributions in an organization. Having both been an intern and then worked at numerous non-profit organizations where paid staff topped out around 4 people, I ardently believe that unpaid work cannot be underestimated as being one of those practical solutions. Overall however, this was a good book. I would feel comfortable recommending it to both the non-profit co-worker/colleague and people (such as my family) who need a jargon-free book on the economic/social work environments of non-profits.

15% Saved is 15% Earned

The author does deliver on the promise to shave 15% off a nonprofit's budget. All of the 100+ tips (across a broad range of expense areas) for shaving costs are practical and require limited time or money to implement. Though any nonprofit organization will benefit from many of these tested ideas, organizations under $10 million in budget should especially be able to adopt many of the suggestions due to flatter heirarchies and quicker decisions by senior staff. I know of no other text that comes close to being so extensive or so practical.