Intersection of Mission and Money
Organization Selection
Select a nonprofit organization to use as the basis for your course project. You will use this organization for all the course assignments, so read all the assignments now. You must have access to adequate information about this organization to complete all required assignment tasks. Review all the assignment tasks before selecting the organization to make sure you can find the information you need.
You can select an organization where you work, direct, or know the director or a member of the board of directors, and where you can obtain the required financial information. There is also data about nonprofit organizations available from the Guidestar Web site and elsewhere. On the Guidestar site (see the link in the Resources), you can create a free account and access reports and IRS Forms 990 for a range of nonprofit organizations. Information for many nonprofits can be accessed elsewhere on the Internet.
As an example, for the Second Harvest Heartland nonprofit, annual community reports and IRS Forms 990 are available online (see the link in the Resources). Be aware that not all online sources will provide all the information you will need.
Assignment Instructions
In this assignment, you will focus on the mission and budgeting process of your selected organization.
For this assignment:
- Analyze the mission and vision of the organization.
- Link the roles of mission and vision to the financial success of the organization.
- Identify the budget format or process used in the organization.
- Analyze the financial operations of this nonprofit by examining each of the financial categories reported. How does this approach compare with financial operations for-profit and government human service organizations?
- Analyze the relevant rationale or theories and practices of organizational fiscal management and control, as related to the mission and budget of the organization. Is there a match? Is anything missing?
Review the scoring guide for this assignment now, to learn about the criteria on which your assignment performance will be graded.
