February 2015 Meeting: How to Think about Capitalization for Nonprofits of Every Size
Beth Doreian, Senior Associate at the Boston office of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, gave a presentation on the topic of capitalization. Prior to NFF, Beth was Director of Finance and Administration at Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development and Controller at Root Capital. Board members and management toss around terms like operating reserves and cash reserves and there is not always consensus on what is meant. How much is enough? How do you figure out how much is enough? What do you count toward operating reserves, anyway? Are your operating reserves reported on regularly on the balance sheet as a separate item? And for those lucky enough to have this problem, how much is too much?
Beth addressed some of those questions.