Books / The First 90 Days of a Nonprofit Treasurer
The First 90 Days of a Nonprofit Treasurer
by Steve Kennedy
Read. Control. Report.
A new treasurer's first ninety days, one week at a time, for the director who knows business finance but has never seen a restricted fund. Read what you inherited, make sure the money is safe and correctly handled, and give the board a report it can actually read. Each week has a short story from an invented nonprofit facing the same problem you are, the work in plain steps with the reason behind each one, the mistakes people make, and five things to have done by Friday.
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Thirteen weeks
Read · Days 1 to 28
- Week 1Taking the File
- Week 2Reading the Statements
- Week 3Restricted Money
- Week 4The Budget and the Cash
Control · Days 29 to 63
- Week 5Internal Controls
- Week 6Payroll and People Costs
- Week 7Gifts, Grants and Receipts
- Week 8Vendors, Contractors and Forms 1099
- Week 9The Annual Return
Report · Days 64 to 90
- Week 10A Monthly Report the Board Can Read
- Week 11Building Next Year's Budget
- Week 12Audit, Review or Neither
- Week 13Day 90: The Treasurer's Report and the Binder
A sample: how Week 1 begins
Week 1: Taking the File. The story.
Marcus Bell handed Ray Delgado the file on the second Tuesday in January, at a corner table in the credit union branch Marcus managed, an hour before it opened.
It was not one file. It was a banker's box. Bank statements for four years, every one with a reconciliation stapled to the front and Marcus's initials in the corner. Board minutes with every financial vote flagged in yellow. The adopted budget for the new year. The foundation's grant agreements. The payroll service's quarterly reports. The insurance policies. A thin folder labeled "Questions I never got to," with three handwritten pages inside.
Marcus had been Wheelhouse's treasurer since the kitchen table. The bylaws limited the treasurer to four consecutive one-year terms, and his last term had ended in December. He was still on the board's finance committee, but the office was Ray's now.
What comes with the book
- The 90-day checklist: every "Before Friday" list in one file.
- A printable 13-week calendar.
- Treasurer's handover checklist.
- Reading the statements: a one-page guide.
- Restricted funds register (Excel).
- Thirteen-week cash look-ahead (Excel).
- Internal controls checklist.
- Gift acknowledgment templates, including the quid pro quo disclosure.
- Annual return review checklist for directors.
- One-page monthly report template.
- Download every file from the book's bonus page; the link is in Appendix D.
- Works on paper, in a spreadsheet or in any system you use now. Each week ends with a short note on where All In One Nonprofit does that week's work.
- General guidance, not legal, tax or accounting advice.
Free on an annual plan
Organizations on a paid annual plan of All In One Nonprofit get every book in the series free, inside the platform. The book's offer: the code FIRST90 takes 20 percent off the first year of an annual plan. See the plans at https://www.allinonenonprofit.com/pricing/.
About the author
Steve Kennedy is the founder of All In One Nonprofit. He has served volunteer-run organizations for decades, as a director, as president and as the person everyone called when the tools were too technical. More about Steve
The whole series
Six books, for the founder, the board, the executive director, the treasurer, the development director and the consultant: https://www.allinonenonprofit.com/books/