Fundamentals Academy Session 3: Understanding Nonprofit Financial Health

Join us for the third session of our four-part Fundamentals Academy series, which covers the “nuts and bolts” of Philanthropy with an equity lens. Jump in for a single session or join us for all and earn a certificate.

Our third session in the Fundamentals Academy is a discussion on understanding the key indicators of nonprofit financial health and ways to refine the practices funders choose for assessing nonprofit fiscal health.

This session is geared towards addressing two issues when it comes to understanding a grantee partner’s financial health:

1. Nonprofit financial statements can feel like an unscalable wall of numbers, making it difficult to know how to utilize them effectively to inform support for grantee partners
2. Traditional formulas for “what numbers matter” may not align with your organization’s stated values.

This session will help highlight what you can look for to improve your understanding of the financial health strengths and challenges of your grantees, while framing those insights in a grantee-centered context of equity and access. We will discuss what to look for in differing sources of information, including internal financial statements, audited financial statements and IRS Forms 990, and together consider the choice-points and practices involve.

Target Audience

This event is open to Catalyst members. If you are interested in membership, please contact Melissa.

Fundamentals Academy

Fundamentals Academy is the 101 of philanthropy you wished you had when you started your job. In this four-session learning journey, you will gain in-depth knowledge of essential philanthropic practices, understand the lay of the land of our region’s funding organizations and grow your own professional network within the field.   

Fundamentals Academy is a great fit for those who are new to the field of philanthropy and want to gain a solid foundation to build their work, or anyone seeking to expand their knowledge of the world of philanthropy. Paced to fit the demands of your daily life easily, there will be one session a month from February to May, culminating with a certificate of completion.

Note: This year, Catalyst will be offering our Fundamentals Academy as a certificate program. Participants that join all four sessions will receive a certificate of completion.

Don’t miss out on the full series, register for our other Fundamentals Academy events here:

• Session 1: Trust-Based Philanthropy
• Session 2: Advocacy 101

Speakers

Ethan Zatko

Ethan is a seasoned leader in the social sector, having spent his early career directing programs and organizations serving young people and their families in New York City and in the San Francisco Bay Area. He brings his advanced experience as a trainer and facilitator to his work with nonprofit, philanthropic and public agencies at BDO, and credits his successes to a strict commitment to inclusive approaches that emphasize validation of disparate experiences and needs, and accountability to shared ones.

In 2010, Ethan was selected as the US Delegate to the five-year global “Man Up” Campaign to end violence against women and girls and was hosted at the kick-off world summit event in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a LeaderSpring Innovation Lab Fellow; has been featured in The Monthly Magazine as one of its forty favorite local movers and shakers; was an invited speaker at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Justice Listening Session; and has appeared on television, radio and in print regarding his endeavors toward peace, equity and social justice.

Ethan serves on the Board of Directors as Treasurer for Californians for Justice, a California state-wide, youth-powered nonprofit organization working for race equity, and lives on unceded Ohlone land in Oakland, CA, his hometown.