W430: Effective Financial Messaging for Nonprofit Organizations

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

How financial information is presented and communicated is as important as the financial information itself. Accurate and timely financial reports are essential but reports that are overly complicated and hard to read are almost useless and tend to be ignored.

This interactive webinar presentation will cover useful tactics and options to enhance the effectiveness of your nonprofit organization’s financial reporting and messaging, addressing topics such as financial dashboard development, purpose-built financial messaging, and building trust and connection with financial reports among the Board, management, and staff. We will conclude with a set of quick takeaways centered around adding pre-month-end closing meetings with department managers, finding opportunities for small financial teaching moments, and discuss financial reporting options for annual reports.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• – Learn about the advantages of purpose-built financial messaging and how to help the Board, staff, and other users of financial information to have trust and confidence in your organization’s financial reports.
• – Explore key concepts related to building out financial dashboards that users can relate to and use.
• – Discuss optimization tactics and strategies to improve understanding of financial reporting through the use of pre-month-end closing meetings, finding small financial teaching moments, and how best to display financial information in annual reports.

INSTRUCTORS: A. Michael Gellman, CPA, CGMA, Co-Founder at Sustainability Education 4 Nonprofits; and Paul Preziotti, CPA, Partner, Johnson Lambert LLP