The Finance Project is out with another strategy brief on financing and sustaining youth programs – this time on preserving program quality at a time of nonprofit budget cutbacks because of the recession.
The Finance Project interviewed 17 youth programs and organizations ranging in size, scope and geographic location to determine how they are sustaining their programs and service levels in the wake of state budget cuts and other reductions in funding.
It covers ways to manage and reduce costs “carefully,” such as focusing on core services – scaling back on a service that’s peripheral to the organization, for instance – and contingency planning or overhead reductions.
For instance, Communities In Schools, a national dropout prevention organization, renegotiated a loan that had been used to finance its operations, which reduced the nonprofit’s operating costs. Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas opted to implement small salary reductions rather than cut a position, which would have reduced its level of services.
A webinar to discuss the report is tentatively scheduled for April 6 at noon, according to The Finance Project. Learn more at www.financeproject.org.
