We are the CEOs and frontline workers. When NFF showed us how much we saved by not jumping into a brick and mortar, and showed us how much we saved by not bringing in employees quickly, we saw we should keep it simple for now to focus on impacting the community.

We received intensive training from NFF that was earth-shifting for us. It moved us from 1-year to 3-year financial planning, and changed how we look at things – from hopeful to certain. You can have different conversations when you can be honest and thoughtful about your cash flow.

Using NFF’s change capital framework, we developed visualization tools to help our donors and funders understand the impact of investing in our 25th anniversary campaign as we scale up to meet the urgent needs of the moment. Your learning series was so helpful as we thought through this – it would have been much harder to illustrate without the tools you offered.

NFF led a session for our board retreat that blew away both staff and board. And the best thing – at the end of the day we achieved exactly what we had hoped! That afternoon the board decided to free up invested funds to provide adequate operating resources and a stronger cash flow for the organization.  They also unanimously agreed to invest heavily in development and marketing / communications in order to ensure long-term sustainability, as well as to invest in the health and well-being of our staff and in our infrastructure. We were all thrilled when our board unanimously agreed to invest in the long-term success of the organization rather than try to penny-pinch our way forward. Bringing in NFF was one of the best investments our funders have made.

The capacity-building assistance we have received has been extraordinarily consistent, available, and productive in helping to shape our thinking, strategies, business plan, budget development, and grant-seeking activities.

I am definitely better equipped to lead viable discussions about the financial health and future direction of the organization. I interact on a regular basis with funders, donors and foundations, and NFF’s training has really inspired me to feel more confident in my abilities to lead financial conversations. In the short time since attending NFF’s workshop, we are re-modeling our financial communications to staff, the Board of Directors, and donors. This is significant!

Like many arts administrators, I was trained in the arts, not administration. Professional development opportunities like those at NFF are essential to informing a fiscally responsible, healthy organization.