Description

Understanding and owning the true costs to deliver your nonprofit's programs and services is essential to effective management of your organization. In this workshop, financial consultant Stephanie Skryzowski of 100 Degrees Consulting will help us demystify our costs so we can move from undervalued to fully funded - empowering us with the information we need to negotiate and advocate for funding that includes our core infrastructure needs and make better decisions about funding opportunities.

You’ll learn how to break down your expenses, set up your accounting system to track true program costs efficiently, allocate direct and indirect costs, build sustainable budgets, forecast program profitability, create powerful financial reports, and negotiate a fair indirect cost rate with funders. You'll also learn about KNN's efforts to address grants and contracting issues through public policy and our Government Grants/Contracting Checklist.

Whether you're preparing grant budgets, negotiating grant or contract terms, managing growth, or working toward long-term sustainability, this session will equip you with tools, templates, and real-world strategies to build a financially resilient, mission-driven organization.

Agenda: 

• Setting the Foundation: Why True Costs Matter – Explore why nonprofits struggle with sustainability, how underestimating costs harms mission and staff, and how full-cost clarity builds resilience.
• Defining Your Programs and Cost Centers – Clarify what counts as a program, why fundraising and admin are vital cost centers, and how to structure your Chart of Accounts for insight.
• Setting Up Your Accounting System to Track True Costs – Learn how to organize your accounting system for clarity, track program-level data, and avoid common structural mistakes.
• Identifying Your True Costs – Identify direct, indirect, and hidden costs to understand the full picture of what it takes to deliver your programs.
• Allocating Costs Fairly and Transparently – Discover simple, consistent allocation methods to distribute shared costs equitably across programs.
• Building an Indirect Cost Strategy – Understand how indirect costs show up in budgets, why they matter, and what strong indirect structures look like.
• Lunch
• Incorporating True Costs into Budgets and Forecasts – Practice embedding indirect and full-cost recovery into budgets and scenario plans for realistic financial forecasting.
• Financial Reporting: Telling Your True Cost Story – Build reports and dashboards that communicate sustainability and impact to boards and funders.
• Negotiating Your Indirect Cost Rate with Funders – Gain tools, language, and confidence to advocate for fair funding and negotiate rates effectively.
• Putting It All Together: Your True Cost Blueprint – Combine your learnings into a complete financial picture that supports strong, data-driven decisions.
• Final Action Planning – Outline your 30-day implementation plan and key next steps to sustain progress after the workshop.

Participants should bring the following to the workshop: 

• current operating budget
• a program or grant budget
• chart of accounts
• list of major programs and activities
• current indirect cost rate (if applicable)
• recent financial statements