C06 Session: Improve NPOs' Financial Health

Teaming up to Improve NPOs' Financial Health

Friday, August 4, 10:45am - 12:15pm

Track:  Capacity Building Models and Strategies

Presenters

Description

When private funders with a shared interest in the financial health of their grantees approached Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) and Fiscal Management Associates (FMA) in early 2003, an unprecedented collaboration was born. The funders pooled money and expertise in an effort to help New York City workforce development agencies understand and manage the financial challenges underpinning the delivery of quality programs and services. This interactive session, using case study client examples, will explore the success of NFF and FMA's unique partnership to improve the financial health of workforce development organizations throughout New York City.

About the Presenters

Jean Ries, Fiscal Management Associates, LLC

Jean K. Ries, Manager, Consulting Services at Fiscal Management Associates, LLC (FMA), leads FMA's consulting team and is project manager for all major consulting initiatives. In her work over the past five years with not-for-profit agencies, Jean develops an understanding of the organization's culture through an infrastructure/operational review that documents and analyzes fiscal work processes and fiscal staffing capacity. This enables her to recommend solutions for enhanced effectiveness that are specific to the agency's culture and needs. Her services provide much-needed support for agencies managing organizational change such as leadership transition, fiscal staff turnover, and periods of rapid growth or consolidation. Jean also develops FMA's funder-based relationships and alliance-building opportunities. Before joining FMA, she was a Grants Associate at Safe Horizon, responsible for preparing government and private funding proposals. Jean serves on the Steering Committee of New York Technical Assistance Providers and is a member of Governance Matters, serving for two years on the Education Committee. As a fund-raising volunteer, each year she organizes a team of racers from FMA and its affiliate accounting firm as part of the God's Love We Deliver "Race to Deliver." Jean is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Public Administration at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and holds a BA with honors from Vassar College.

Teresa Vazquez, New York Nonprofit Finance Fund

Teresa Vazquez, Director joined Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) in August 2000. She is responsible for managing the New York program, including product delivery, fundraising and marketing. Since her tenure, Teresa has coordinated financial and advisory services, maintained client relationships, conducted Nonprofit Business Analyses, underwritten grants for New York's 9/11 Recovery Fund, and managed New York's Building for the Future Program—an asset-building program for the Boys and Girls Clubs and Childcare Expansion Program. Teresa is a member of New York Technical Assistance Providers, advisory committee member of the Low Income Investment Fund's Child Care Seed Fund and a mentor of college students through People for the American Way. She has also served on the board of directors of Promoting Equality and Community Everywhere and as a Women Care mentor for formerly incarcerated women. Teresa holds a Masters of Public Administration from New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and a BA from Vassar College.