How to be confident about your cash balances

I wrote a blog post in the midst of the havoc in the financial markets in 2008 about the risk of balances in accounts. Unfortunately, events over the last couple…

The Years of the Asterisks

I, and Propel, are in a lucky position to get to work with hundreds of nonprofits every year. As a partner and colleague to nonprofit leaders, I am often asked,…

The Next Best Thing

Photo caption (clockwise): Keven Ambrus, Mary Nehring, Amanda Duhon, and Elizabeth Appel at a staff celebration in early 2020.  Please join me in wishing my friend and colleague, Vice President…

Equity Builder: Linking Fiscal and Social Equity

The capacity for autonomous planning and choice that financial equity represents, and the social equity we need these organizations to continue working toward as part of the broad tapestry of…

An Open Letter to Nonprofit Leaders at the End of 2020

Dear Friends, In our recent rollout of the Financial Commons, Hal Cropp, the Producing Artistic Director of Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, MN, offered an anecdote for how the year has…

Phases of the Pandemic

It is surreal and exhausting to think it’s been seven months of working in this way. I am tempted to predict the future and talk about what the sector might…

Paycheck Protection Program Data Released: What Nonprofits Should Know

On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)  announced its  release of data detailing which nonprofit organizations and other businesses received federal relief from the Paycheck Protection Program…

Working For Change in Solidarity

We are outraged, grief-filled, and heartbroken with the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis Police on Memorial Day. The structural racism ingrained in the United States of America, including the nonprofit and financial sectors and institutions, must…

Proactive, Not Perfect, Scenario Planning

Kate Barr helps guide nonprofit leaders through the process of scenario planning.