There’s no going about it: these times are the most trying of times. If you talk about financial struggles, the stats showing over 2 0,000 small businesses closing down due to the pandemic is telling. It reveals how much businesses are in an existential battle for some time now — and many are barely making it. Sadly, amongst the fallen are nonprofit organizations.
The pandemic as the biggest calamity to ever hit America would have been the best stage for nonprofits to shine. The staggering economic loss due to the virus has already been compared to the financial hardship during the Great Depression. Couple that with the hundreds of thousands of American deaths and you have one nightmare that calls for a savior.
Unfortunately many nonprofits as the knight in shining armor are failing. Experts detail one out of every three of these noble organizations are folding, closing in the years to come.
In such a doomed scenario, being able to strengthen your organization is paramount. There are many strategic ways to help your nonprofit, for sure. But being able to save money creatively should be top of the list.
Of course, it’s no strange territory. Many nonprofits have been operating on a shoestring budget. Below are four cost-cutting tips to help you augment that.
Make a Habit of Seeking Discounts
You may have asked for discounts before. And it’s normal for nonprofits to squeeze the most bargain from every transaction. But you’d fare better if you really stick to the trait and make a habit out of it.
It’s an attitude that can surely provide you with extra cash if you do it more often than usual. While many for-profit companies may not offer official discounts, your status as a nonprofit surely can be a huge factor in helping you land one.
A good start for you in your quest for more discounts is to check out big tech’s outreach program. Google, for one, is lending a hand to nonprofit organizations. Here’s a quick look:
Another outstanding way is for you to enhance your capacity by availing of top-grade resources and services by joining nonprofit networks such as a nonprofit state association.
You may have to pay a membership fee but the annual membership fee of these nonprofit networks is a small price to pay for all the resources available once the door opens.
Pool Your Resources
At this point in time, being able to operate at a bare minimum would be most beneficial to improve your bottom line. And that can be achieved by sharing resources. Indeed, sharing is caring.
You can start doing so in the office. Instead of buying new office equipment such as a photocopier, for instance, you may have to just share one for everybody. Sharing the same resource from another office is also wise. If you just make few copies daily, putting your hard cash on a piece of new office equipment may not be wise.
The same holds true for your heating and cooling. If two offices can share one air conditioning unit then both can save money. Additionally, factoring needed air conditioner repair can also be shouldered by both, saving more money in the process.
The same mindset can be applied to online tools. Grammarly, for one, can be used by four to five devices. By sharing the account instead of buying one account for each of you, you save tons of dollars yearly.
Practice the “All Hands on Deck” Mindset
It’s hard to let go of employees at this point in time. As much as possible, you shouldn’t. If your budget is cut, have workers work part-time rather than letting them go.
Another way for you to go to boost manpower is to recruit volunteers. It’s a brilliant idea. As many people these days have a lot of time in their hands, getting volunteers may not be such a tall order.
But you could be wary about the amount of work added to your plate knowing these volunteers need to be trained. And yet, there’s a way to go around that.
Instead of training every volunteer yourself, you just train a few of these volunteers. Once they’re already up to the job, you can ask them to create training materials making sure they know what you want them to do. Once the materials are done, these trained volunteers can now train the new ones. And free you of a burden.
Audit and Audit Again!
You really won’t know how much you’ve been wasting if you don’t audit. Every dollar that comes out of your organization as an expense should be reflected in writing. It’s a must.
Smaller organizations tend to audit more as they don’t have as much cash as the bigger ones. But as your nonprofit organization grows, the need to audit should be paramount.
When you take an extra step to put your expense in writing, knowing which part of your organization needs to temper is a lot easier. Then, becoming a lean yet effective nonprofit would be more of a walk in the park.
