IT’S WHAT YOU KEEP

Nonprofit organizations are like Alice Through the Looking Glass, running madly beside the Red Queen and being reminded, "it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

Since we do not know what the future may hold, we must figure out innovative strategies to make and save money. One lap in this race is cost reduction.

Just as we fundraising professionals know that it is more cost effective to retain a donor than to acquire a new one, in the corporate world it has been said that every dollar saved in expenses is equal to 50 - 100 times as much in new revenue because of the costs associated with generating new revenue. It is just as important to keep what we raise!

My friend Joe Szuba, a fellow former Board member of Victory Gardens Theater, is President of National Cost Reduction Corporation (NCRC). He and his partners have cut their teeth on saving money for corporations and are turning their attention increasingly to nonprofits because of the dire need in this economy. NCRC offers a free analysis of expenses and a free projection of savings on non labor expenses (not HR or producing goods). This year they saved one Chicago nonprofit $100,000! They have an impressive list of references – Fourth Presbyterian Church, Gilda's Club of Chicago and Lawrence Hall Youth Services among them.

Nonprofit managers face constant pressure to maintain cost effectiveness and reduce expenses. You may feel you already do this. In my opinion, the most important aspects of using specialists like NCRC is to take advantage of their connections with vendors, who have reduced prices before or seen business go elsewhere; what is, thus, their aggregate buying power; and the fact they do the job and the only cost is sharing the first year savings...they only get paid out of savings.

Joe appreciates sensitive donor relations and the need for confidentiality. He’s a nice guy. Contact him or call me, if you’re considering checking this out for your organization: 847.227.7174.