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Think about the last time you made a significant financial decision. Maybe you hired a contractor or chose a company to complete a major project. You probably looked for signals. Does what they're telling me make sense? Does their experience support what they're promising? Do I trust them to deliver? Funders are looking for signals too. And one of the strongest signals an organization can send is: The pieces of our story fit together. 🧩 What Does Consistency Look Like? Imagi

I work with a lot of small nonprofits. And one of their greatest strengths is adaptability. They figure it out. A staff member leaves? Someone absorbs the work. A grant doesn't come through? They adjust. The computer dies? They find another one. Demand increases? They stretch the program. Something unexpected happens? They make it work. That resourcefulness is admirable. BUT resourcefulness shouldn't be your financial strategy. There is a difference between being able to resp

When we think about nonprofit storytelling, we usually think about words. We think about the story of the family whose life changed because of a program. The student who graduated. The person who found housing. The entrepreneur who launched a business. The neighborhood that gained access to a needed resource. And those stories matter. But there's another story sitting quietly inside almost every grant proposal you submit. Your budget. And whether you realize it or not, funder

Imagine an organization that spends nearly every available dollar on programs. Sounds good, right? Ninety-five cents of every dollar goes directly to serving the community. Only five cents goes toward “overhead.” That sounds like an organization we should celebrate, right?. That is until you look a little closer… Their computers are eight years old. The executive director is also handling HR. Staff haven't received meaningful professional development in years. The donor datab

One of the questions I ask nonprofit leaders when reviewing a grant budget is: “How did you decide which expenses belonged in the program budget?” The answers vary. Sometimes the response is: “Those are the expenses the funder wanted to see.” Other times it’s: “We only included the costs directly related to the program.” And occasionally... “Honestly, we’re not really sure.” If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The distinction between direct and indirect costs has confu

Imagine you're preparing a grant proposal for a program that costs your organization $75,000 annually. That's the number in the budget. But then we start asking questions. Where does the program take place? "A local church gives us the space." Who designed your marketing materials? "One of our volunteers owns a graphic design firm." Where did the computers come from? "A company donated them last year." What about the food we provide participants? "A local grocery store donate

This week continues our series inspired by the "Budgeting to Fully Fund Your Overhead" webinar from GrantStation presented by Mandy Pearse, Founder of Funding for Good, and expanded through Heart for the Community Consulting's experience helping nonprofits build stronger, healthier, and more sustainable fundraising programs. Volunteers are often described as “free help.” But what if that's one of the biggest misconceptions in nonprofit budgeting? Let’s explore how volunteer t

A 22-Part Series (Yes, 22 parts!) inspired by Mandy Pearse of Funding for Good and expanded through the Heart for the Community Lens. Too often, nonprofit leaders are taught that financial sustainability means sacrificing infrastructure, stretching limited resources, and doing more with less. But what if many of the beliefs we've inherited about nonprofit budgeting, overhead, and fundraising are actually holding our organizations back? This series explores what it truly takes