2008/10/11 Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com>om>:
There has been a lot of chatter lately in the news
about the potential
impact on charitable giving of the current economic crisis. I notice that
the 08/09 budget calls for Q2 revenues of $3.5M., a total annual donation
revenue of $6M and an annual revenue of $7.3M.
Since the bulk of the annual revenue is to be acquired in this quarter, and
the world is currently engaged in a serious financial crisis, what
adjustments or contingencies has the Foundation planned to mitigate a
downturn in gift revenue? The actual spending budget has a built in cushion
of $1.3M, but the budget indicates that the cash reserve as of the end of
September was anticipated to be in the hole $752. With a negative reserve, a
threat to revenue and a very poor borrowing environment are the finances of
the organization still secure?
I'll let someone in the know give a full answer, but in the past Sue
has said that the easiest way (or, at least, one of the easy ways) to
deal with a short term lack of funds is to defer planned hires. There
are certainly hires planned that could be deferred, so I guess that's
what they'll do if they need to.