What is the Claverack Advisory Group?

The Claverack Advisory Group (CAG) was founded by Russell C. Pomeranz in 2011 as an independent consulting firm that works with non-profit corporations—especially senior management and boards—foundations, and other consulting firms. CAG focuses on the connection between a non-profit’s financial function and the overall sustainability of their mission impact. Our emphasis is on non-profit organizations’ programmatic, administrative, strategic, and financial trajectories. We engage with organizations that have the drive, vision, creativity and flexibility to fulfill their mission aspirations while also striving to maintain their financial independence.

The CAG website is an amalgamation of articles, whitepapers, editorials, letters to the editor, webinars, and other communications that all have a common thread. Articles featured in publications ranging from the New York Times, Chronicle of Philanthropy, CPA Journal, Blackbaud e-books, the Hudson Register Star, and others should benefit key non-profit leadership roles, organizations, the non-profit sector, and ultimately society as a whole. This consistent theme of highlighting the relevance of the non-profit financial function is also found in webinars and speaking engagements for Blackbaud, JMT Consulting, the Non-Profit Coordinating Committee, and the Better Business Bureau, among other forums.

Our mission
To the extent consulting firms have a mission, ours is to educate the individuals and organizations that comprise the non-profit sector about the transformational role the financial function plays in driving mission impact forward. It is our hope that this knowledge, analysis, and strategic insight translates into short and long-term action at all organizational levels. CAG expects CEOs, CFOs, Program Management, Development, finance committees, and Boards to embrace a shared sense of mission and financial independence by achieving consensus on long-term strategic organizational goals. This isn’t as easy as it sounds; we realize that. But non-profits must, in order to stay around to continue fulfilling their important missions, begin seeing the advantage of the transformative contribution of the financial function as a competitive imperative.

Why is the Claverack Advisory Group focused on the leadership role of the non-profit CFO?

This website’s goal is to distill down years of experience and thought to emphasize how the non-profit finance function has impacted the financial and mission fate of non-profit organizations and ultimately the sector. We have paid an increasing amount of attention to the notion of “mission investment”. What mission priorities and strategies drive the organization’s decisions to invest its current and future financial resources to achieve the intended impact over time? How does the organization invest its unrestricted net assets to define and drive the business model over the long term? Examples of transformational results include mergers, investments in building development capacity (sometimes from nothing), investment in research and evaluation, investment in organizational leadership at a senior management level, investment in space, investment in programmatic initiatives, spinning off important initiatives into their own organizations (a specialty of the Vera Institute of Justice), and countless others.

One innovative financial approach to mission investment that successfully built diverse long-term revenue streams dealt with Vera’s use of an additional 5% spending rate, given that they had a significant unrestricted reserve fund. The Finance department realized that the success and sustainability of a business model required additional long-term diverse revenue streams (restricted and unrestricted). The Finance Department recommended an additional 5% draw in the fiscal year, produced an internal RFP, and gave all departments a chance to use that pool to identify important mission investments that could increase diverse revenue streams over time. The assumption was the increase in the unrestricted bottom line over time would replenish the unrestricted investment pool in an amount greater than the additional draw. Interestingly enough, additional draws at Vera and other non-profits have enabled investments in strategic plans, strengthened senior management, built innovative programs, and at times increased necessary capital investments.

What insight into the non-profit financial leadership (i.e. CFOs) can be provided?

This website attempts to define and provide insight into the financial function leadership—usually, though not always, embodied in the non-profit CFO, COO, or Director of Finance. The CFO role has evolved as non-profits better understand that a robust finance function capacity impacts mission success in an increasingly competitive, expensive, and growing non-profit sector. The non-profit CFO needs to be a strategic visionary, not a myopic bean counter in order to partner and be accountable with CEOs, the program team, boards, and finance committees. The ultimate evolution of the CFO role requires an affirmative assertive effort to build a symbiotic relationship between the finance team and the mission leadership.

Should we care about what drives non-profit CFOs? Who are they? What makes them happy and satisfied? Why must they have a seat at the senior management strategic table? How do they become a part of the organizational culture and not be considered cost-obsessed outcasts? CAG explores the heart, mind, and soul (yes, they have all three) of the non-profit CFO. We came up with three key roles: the Builder, the Strategist, and the Cultural Trendsetter. To humanize the financial function leadership role, communication and a story-telling capacity are imperative. For example, the ability to communicate (written or verbally) a budget narrative prior to all finance committee meetings should be considered a necessity. Such a story effectively communicates the goals, results, and future strategies of fiscal year budgets, forecasts, and audits.

We can also apply the mission-infused focus to the entire financial function (e.g. A/R, A/P, budget directors, staff accountants, grants and contracts managers, etc.) and their interaction with the Program and Development staff. Non-profit CFOs and their staff take pride in the organization’s mission success, not only from a financial and efficiency standpoint, but also from the organization’s good works and impact. They are and should be curious and want to get to the bottom of how the programs run effectively and know what the organization as a whole aspires to and needs to accomplish. The non-profit financial function in its entirety must be treated with the a respect and appreciation for the critical role they serve.

Why should non-financial function members of the organization, including leadership, the board, and staff, pay attention?

Why should boards pay attention?

An organization’s mission impact and relevance is dependent on a sustainable financial and programmatic trajectory over time. Organizations used to move forward incrementally, biding their time until the right opportunity presented itself, or taking years to gradually become irrelevant. No longer is walking the financial or mission treadmill waiting for strategic business model lightning to strike a viable option. Program and financial trade-offs need to be measured, choices need to be evaluated and agreed upon, strategies need to be constructed, and intelligent investments in the mission need to be made. In a fast-paced world, non-profits have less time for indecision or even introspection and less room for mistakes, financial or otherwise.

Having unrestricted net assets or reserves, including board-designated reserves, that management controls can provide an organization with a greater sense of mission independence. The pool can reduce the probability of funders who are not as well-informed as management pushing an alternative organizational and mission trajectory. Clear financial goals that have identifiable financial statement metrics aligned with clear strategic mission goals enable boards to determine the ultimate fiduciary fate of the non-profit. Inaction as a result of cash obsessed short-term thinking (unless the organization is in cash extremis) can result in a case of financial sclerosis that’s difficult to cure. Alternatively, boards should be prepared to push management to identify their long-term mission investments and structure the necessary budgetary decision-making to implement them. As a non-profit treasurer, this experience, while sometimes financially nerve-wracking, can also be extremely satisfying.

Why should CEOs pay attention?

It used to be that CEOs would be evaluated on their ability to define and extend the effective reach of their mission. Today, CEOs get into trouble when they don’t understand, can’t articulate, or can’t control their financial present and future. The scourge of financial dysfunction or lack of resources that limits the CEO, in their experienced and learned capacity, to strengthen programs, quickly adjust to events in the world, create new initiatives, and maintain their programmatic independence infests the entire organization. CEOs who get their short and long term finances in order and can tell a compelling systemic impact story—not just the anecdotal tear jerker—are destined for societal relevance and financial function adulation.

The CEO needs to ask and answer fundamental questions such as: “What does the organization want to accomplish?” and “How do they lay the groundwork for a successful business model going forward?” The CEO needs a partner in the CFO who can help align mission goals with financial realities, opportunities, and strategies. Together they must not allow funders to determine the non-profit’s programmatic goals, underfund programs, pay late, or limit indirect cost reimbursements. Organizations stuck on a “business as usual” treadmill, constrained by finances or unwillingness to invest in an organizational vision, will be left behind by those competitive non-profits with a better understanding of the risks and rewards of mission investment. If CEOs are concerned about “flying blind” because they are not getting the financial reports and data they need, they better ask the right questions to get the financial metrics they need to make key decisions. CEOs keep their jobs when financial and mission goals are aligned, understood, and acted upon, which experience shows can and does happen.

Why should development departments pay attention?

When Russell Pomeranz was COO/CFO at the Vera Institute of Justice, he realized that greater unrestricted revenue streams were needed to close indirect cost recovery gaps. The buildup of unrestricted net assets would also provide the necessary capital to move the mission forward. He proposed the organization create a development department and identified how to build the role(s) into the fiscal year budget. Within a few years of hiring the first Development Director, the inaugural fundraiser event generated $750,000 gross. The ability to invest in other fundraising levers (grant writer, annual fund, major donor strategy, capital campaign) to build up unrestricted and restricted fundraising capacity was also integrated as a permanent part of the budget over the years. A goal-oriented partnership between finance and development enables both departments to get what they want and need over time.

Why should program staff pay attention?

When the CFO happily shows up to discuss budgets, Program leadership often runs in the other direction, assuming the CFO will request unwelcome budget cuts. The mission-infused CFO who seeks peace, organizational harmony, and growth should instead ask, “What does your program need in order to maximize its mission and impact?” Working closely with Finance to build, forecast, and monitor program budgets that have a clear set of program goals integrated with clear financial goals increases the probability of producing a compelling wish list and pipeline of programmatic investments to be built into the budget in the short and/or long term.

While hard to believe, the exercise of the CFO poring over the audited financials along with senior program management provides a good opportunity to intertwine financial and program stories. In Pomeranz’s experience, such interactions can actually be enjoyable and surprisingly informative for all parties. The interaction also sets the stage for program staff to make their case for programmatic investment, given their ultimate impact on the financials. Likewise, such interaction also gives Programs the chance to justify program deficits, with or without allocated indirect costs, by explaining those programs’ critical impact on the core mission.

Learning how to code expenses, getting vouchers in on time, and identify red flags in the forecast process requires Program and Finance to work together toward a common financial good. It’s an understatement that Finance and Program staff need each other. Ironically, more CFOs lose their jobs when they exist in silos, can’t or won’t communicate, and do not provide the departmental financial data necessary for program staff to run their programs. When Pomeranz became Business Manager of the Maret School in Washington DC, he insisted on teaching a 10th-grade geometry course. The hands-on experience afforded Pomeranz a glimpse at the critical link between mission and finance, offering an insight into what made teachers enthusiastic or at times not so enthusiastic, and served as a reminder of what made triangles congruent.

Why should finance committees pay attention?

It used to be that the fiduciary responsibility of finance committee members was focused on the short and long-term preservation of financial assets, running a breakeven budget, ensuring liquidity, and limiting debt. Times have changed and now more than ever it’s important to consider a more proactive and strategic definition of fiduciary responsibility. Fiduciary responsibility means not only maintaining financial reporting standards according to GAAP, but using and understanding the organization’s financial position to build a sustainable and competitive long-term business model. Too often in today’s world business model decisions are focused on the short term, especially when made by finance committees obsessed with cutting costs and uneven cash flows. Cash-obsessed decision making, unless the organization is in extremis, limits investment in the mission and too often ignores the importance of investing in the revenue side of the equation.

Financial and mission independence based on the strength, experience, wisdom, and motivation of the management team should drive the budgetary and mission decision-making process. Misaligned mission clarity results in poor options and missed strategic opportunities. Nobody, for example, wants finance committees focused on buying new buildings and driving the non-profit into debt while failing to invest in the programs, staff or faculty, technical resources, or even the community. Likewise, a budgetary lack of investment in staff salaries and benefit structures, a willingness to gut indirect cost support infrastructure, underfunded pet projects that stray far from the mission, and underfunded projects in general do not serve the financial future of the organization well. However, financial management leadership, especially CFOs, must take the time to make the case for positive short and long-term budgetary outcomes, factoring in manageable risk based on organizational and financial position imperatives.

Why should the non-profit sector and proponents of the business model pay attention

The non-profit corporate business model should be ascendant as an alternative or partner to the for-profit sector, as well as government. It has the legal and financial structure to be an efficient business model where unrestricted surpluses are effectively re-invested in the business. Non-profits are big businesses and should be run as such if they want to stand a chance of reaching scale and using various creative and strategic methods to raise capital.

There are many mischaracterizations and myths that plague the non-profit sector, often promulgated by for-profit participant misunderstanding and arrogance. These include the fallacies that efficient non-profits: 1) can’t make money or shouldn’t, especially given their investment goals and aspirations over time, 2) shouldn’t invest in organizational management structure to build and grow their organizational expertise and capacity, 3) can’t raise sufficient capital to fund innovative ideas, 4) can’t make strategic long-term decisions, 5) can’t make effective cost reduction decisions and maintain the core mission of the organization, or 6) don’t have the potential or know-how to grow to scale. In no way should anyone believe that the non-profit business model is an inferior corporate structure to that of for-profits.

Ultimately there needs to be ways for non-profits to raise significant capital from the marketplace while not being beholden to specific investors consumed by alternative measures of societal success. Forget about UBIT; why can’t non-profits build energy-efficient cars and sell them? Why can’t non-profits be the main driver of the inevitable new “green” economy? The non-profit finance function plays an integral and increasingly important role in non-profit corporate effectiveness and mission independence. It is more and more responsible for building successful and sustainable organizations that are also efficient businesses, with critical and measurable societal returns at their core.

What does this CAG hypothesis connecting finance and mission mean? What does it all add up to?

In a perfect world where the robust connection between finance and mission is embraced by all, the sum of the multitude of successful societal missions would add up to a much better world. While progress is being made, an education process, the confidence to advocate for the non-profit business model, and a continued willingness to invest in and test the bounds of mission innovation form the road on which non-profits must continue to travel. If Sisyphus were a non-profit CFO, he would be rolling that non-profit mission rock up that hill hopeful that his critical role will make the world a much more just and fair place.