What Keeps Nonprofit Executive Directors Awake at Night?

Charles Sterck, the leader of RINA's Strategic Growth Advisors, asks what thoughts keep you awake at night. Are you worried that you don’t really know how your organization is doing? Wonder if increasing dues will increase cash flow or drive away members? Is your organization the entity best positioned to provide a specific service? Is your group organized so that the team is happy and efficient?

“After starting out in a large, traditional firm 40 years ago, I discovered that my passion was helping executives and business owners get joy from their work,” Charles explains. “I get the most satisfaction helping individuals turn financial data into useful information they can act on.”

Charles has teamed with fellow CPA Geoffrey Kulik to provide professional planning and strategic development services for over 20 years. Charles, Geoff and other professionals at RINA Strategic Growth Advisors offer over 15 established consulting workshops and programs to “Facilitate Financial Understanding and Impact” for key organizational personnel.

“We help leaders work ON the organization and not IN it,” Geoffrey says. “The day-to-day operational busyness keeps too many people from thinking strategically or even understanding the financial reports their computers give them. We help you see the bigger picture and develop concrete actions to improve your operations and allow your organization to more effectively meet your mission.

The Strategic Growth Advisors first meet with senior leaders to determine the organization’s priorities. Maybe the Executive Director is really having nightmarish fears, or maybe the organization is doing well, and the stakeholders are energized to make their operations more powerful and fun.

“Sometimes the first step is to help leaders discover more about their operations by developing Key Performance Indicators and Program Statistics, Flash Reports, and improving their chart of accounts,” Charles says. These activities can transform random factoids into insights.

“What you can measure, you can manage and what you can manage you can leverage” is one of the Strategic Growth Advisor’s mantras. Learning what to measure and how to get meaningful information from financial reports can change an organization’s entire culture and fiscal outlook.

“Other times, a client’s organization really needs to start off by deep thinking,” Geoffrey suggests. RINA has sessions for strategic planning, a “discovery day”, a goal setting workshop, examination of the organizational structure, and other global concepts.

Supplementing the structured approach to learning and planning, RINA’s Strategic Growth Advisors provide on-going support to reinforce an organization's determination to change and use best practices. RINA advisors can conduct monthly sessions to review KPIs and financial monitoring. They also help organizations establish and run member and team advisory boards.

“We have a comprehensive set of tested tools,” Charles says. “Our experience allows us to create a program that will provide key leaders with the insights and support they most urgently need.”

In addition to the consulting services which boost the skills and abilities of the client’s team, the Strategic Growth Advisors also help organizations with targeted infrastructure support including providing temporary professional Chief Financial Officer personnel (CFO as You Grow) and the opportunity to network with other leaders in a monthly Business Development Roundtable.

“Organizations don’t plan to fail, but they fail to plan,” concludes Geoffrey. RINA’s consulting services can help you plan so you don't ever fail!"