A Right-Sized Solution for Nonprofits: Fractional CFO
Do you need to bolster your operational capacity but aren’t ready to add a full-time member to your leadership team? A fractional COO or CFO may be the right solution for your nonprofit.
Does this sound familiar?
Your programs are more expansive than ever, but your infrastructure can’t keep up.
You’ve promoted internal candidates who understand your systems and today’s problems but lack the business leadership experience to redesign your approach to operations.
Considering the workloads carried by your current staff, adding a full-time member to the leadership team feels like a luxury.
You don’t need more consultation - you need a thought partner who sticks around to implement the ideas.
Fractional CFOs are commonplace in the business sector, especially in start-ups and companies going through times of restructuring or growth. Because they have successfully launched and managed thriving businesses, fractional executives bring the leadership skills and experience to implement your aspirations. And they do it scaled to your capacity and cost needs.
Scaled leadership support is a perfect fit for the nonprofit sector, where every staffing and financial resource has another worthy use. A fractional CFO offers:
Flexible capacity to meet the moment.
Ongoing business support in place of stand-alone project consultation.
Increased expertise while controlling overhead costs.
Decreased isolation of the Executive Director.
Some fractional CFOs act as professional development resources, mentoring self-taught operations teams. Training your staff to implement new analytical skills and frameworks is a value they will use within your organization and throughout their careers. In this scenario, the fractional CFO increases your organization’s efficiency and your people's effectiveness.
Most fractional CFOs offer a free consultation session. Take advantage of it. The conversation should help you refine your thinking, a big step toward addressing the problem. Even if you don’t engage a fractional CFO, discussing your issues with an expert may clarify the next step.
Alyssa Kopf is the founder and principal consultant of A+ Insight. She focuses on refining the business side of nonprofits to "do good" even better.
