Nonprofit Leaders: How much can you spend without asking your board?

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor

I was listening to a personal finance podcast the other day. My favorite one right now by Ramit Sethi. He interviews couples about how they manage (& fight, disagree, stress over) their finances. The other day he was talking about ‘the number’. You know, the highest dollar amount you each can spend without asking your partner… 

I love his podcast because it’s all about money mindset and rules…and that’s where there’s TONS of overlap with my work. This podcast episode totally resonated with me because I see multi-million dollar #nonprofits who don’t have ‘the number’. 

You know, the number you can spend without asking your board.

And when you don’t…here’s what I see:

🥺 The ED or CEO hand-cuffed when it comes to spending

🥺 Stress & guilt over asking for anything that wasn’t in the budget

🥺 No ability to respond or invest in a growth opportunity when it comes your way

Recently, I asked a prospective client how much authority she had when it came to budget variance…she had no answer.

Another client? She has a 3-5% budget variance she can work with.

Leaders - You’ve got to know ‘the number’.

It’s larger than you think. And then, you must be empowered to spend it if a need or opportunity comes your way.

You need ‘the number’ so you can efficiently run your org well. I’m not saying go hog-wild. But, if you are going to the board for every $5,000, $10,000, or $20,000 decision, how will you ever get anything done?  

How about you? What's your number?

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and adding 7-figures + to their bottom line. 

🍎 Read my GUIDE! THE TRUTH ABOUT GIVE/GETS :: Top 5 Reasons Your Board’s Give/Get Is Leaving Thousands (Sometimes Millions) on the Table. See how limiting board members to the Give/Get model restricts gifts and keeps your staff from reaching their full fundraising potential. Here to get it.

📈 Work with me to scale your org's revenue by 2-5X and fund your organization’s Strategic Plan // If you’re a business-minded CEO already raising MILLIONS but need to diversify revenue and secure more general-operating dollars to invest in growth, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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