Talking Dollars and Cents with Your Board

April 3, 2023 / Comments Off on Talking Dollars and Cents with Your Board

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In the past few years, MNA has provided its Financial Leadership series to more than 1,000 nonprofit staff and leaders from all across the country.  This is a six-week deep dive into all things money, from budgeting to cash flow to managing restricted funds and much more.  It’s meant to provide a great foundation for those involved in the day-to-day management of nonprofits of all sizes.  An unaddressed audience, though, are those that hold ultimate fiduciary authority for nonprofit organizations – the Board of Directors. 

Board members hold the duty of care to ensure that organizational resources are well-stewarded toward the mission.  They come with vastly varied experience and understanding of nonprofit financials, but they all need to know that they know the organization is fiscally sustainable and well-stewarded. Not all board members have the time or opportunity to wade through the weeds on building budgets, managing restricted funds, and forecasting cash flow. 

That’s why MNA is launching a new series – Financial Leadership for Board Members.  This two-part course is a distilled and adapted version of our full Financial Leadership series. It was developed to give Board members, with their limited time, the essentials of what they need to know to exercise their duty of care and effectively tie money into conversations about the strategic vision of the organization.  We’ll talk about interpreting financial statements, monitoring budgets, setting goals, and committee and meeting structure. 

If you’re a board member feeling the need for a greater understanding of your organization’s finances and financial systems, please sign up and bring your board peers with you

If you’re a nonprofit staff leader who has been through Financial Leadership and wants to get your board up-to-speed on what you learned in the course, sign up your organization or send this along to your board. 

And the best thing…both sessions will be recorded, and the recordings will be downloadable.  So sign up, have your whole board participate, and then save the recordings as an orientation tool when new members join the board. 


Headshot of Adam Jespersen

Presented by Adam Jespersen, MNA Associate Director

Adam joined the Montana Nonprofit Association in 2019 as its first Director of Innovation after more than a decade of progressive experience in nonprofit management, leadership, fundraising, and grant writing. Raised in rural Montana, Adam received his bachelor’s degree from Carroll College and his master’s in business administration from the University of Montana. Trained and experienced in Lean management and person-centered design, Adam is passionate about helping people, teams, and organizations across Montana find their stride in being more effective and impactful and has been recognized for his ability to dive headlong into finding solutions and for his cooperative and thoughtful leadership approach. Adam lives in Helena with his wife and two daughters and enjoys hiking, skiing, and all that Montana has to offer.