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Acknowledgements
The National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center thanks Marie Verna of
Write Here, LLC, for her assistance in preparing this publication. In addition, NCSTAC
greatly appreciates the support of SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services, which
makes our work possible.
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Sources of Business Management Support
NONPROFIT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS
Mission-Based Management
Responsibility and Control
Independence and Freedom
Involvement and Oversight
Time and Money
ACQUIRING FUNDS
Stewardship
Diversification
KEEPING RECORDS
Forms
Bank Accounts
Transactions
BALANCING BUDGETS
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
Assets, Liabilities and Equity
Seeking Balance
Revenues and Expenses
The Bottom Line
Program Budgets vs. Organizational Budgets
Software
REPORTING FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Your Board
Auditors
Funders
Federal Government
State Governments
The Public: The Annual Report
GLOSSARY
SOURCES
APPENDIX
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INTRODUCTION
The National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center (NCSTAC) is a federally
funded program of Mental Health America. Through the support of the Center for Mental
Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
NCSTAC supports non-profit organizations run by mental health consumers through
training, consultation, financial aid and publications.
The National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center (NCSTAC) assumes that,
after reading this guide, you’ll explore ways to find other resources in your community or
state through which you can take the basics in this guide and learn even more information
about how to manage your 501(c)(3). We also assume that you’ll seek the help of
financial professionals, such as Certified Public Accountants, successful businesspeople
and lawyers who may accept positions on your board or volunteer to help you with the
obligations described in this guide.
We do not assume that, just by reading this guide, you’ll be prepared to take on all of the
complicated challenges of financially developing a business. Rather, we offer this
technical assistance as a guide to the fundamental business principles and practices of all
business leaders. And of course, NCSTAC is always here to offer technical assistance, as
well.
We developed this guide with the idea that the reader has already taken the first steps of
legally incorporating a nonprofit business, as described in NCSTAC’s, How to Establish
a 501(c)(3), Fundraising Basics and Guide to Proposal Writing. As such, we’ve assumed
that you’re eager to manage your business and have made a commitment to learning the
knowledge and skills to do so, but don’t necessarily have much business or financial
background or education. This guide is for the consumer business leader who’s just
starting out on the path of running a successful business—regardless of whether your
business provides peer-run services to other consumers or provides an entirely different
product or service in your community.
Sources of Business Management Support
The number of nonprofit businesses in America has grown tremendously in the last 15
years, so a number of resources have developed in most states to help boards and staff
learn the basics of running a business.
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We recommend that you take the time to investigate some of the most common:
 Nonprofit Development Centers (state level)
 Economic Development Authorities
 Colleges and University
 Small Business Administration (specifically their SCORE program that matches
retired business professionals with those new to financial management)
 Chambers of Commerce (municipal and state levels)
 Local Volunteer Matching Services
In addition, many organizations have formed, themselves nonprofits, on the national level
to assist nonprofits with the challenges of fundraising and management:
o American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
1455 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004-1081
202-737-6600
www.aicpa.org
o American Society of Association Executives
1575 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 200005
888-950-2733
www.asaecenter.org
o Beta Alpha Psi (National Accounting Honor Society for College Students)
Palladian I, 220 Leigh Farm Road, Durham, NC 27707
919-402-4044
www.bap.org
o The Foundation Center
79 Fifth Avenue/16th Street, New York, NY 10003-3076
212-620-4230
www.foundationcenter.org
o The Giving Institute
4700 W. Lake Avenue, Glenview, IL 60025
800-462-2372
www.givinginstitute.org
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o The Grantsmanship Center
1125 West Sixth Street, 5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-482-9860
www.tgci.com
o Guidestar
4801 Courthouse Street, Suite 220, Williamsburg, VA 23188
757-229-4631
www.guidestar.org
o Independent Sector
1200 Eighteenth Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036
202-467-6100
www.independentsector.org
o The Society for Nonprofit Organizations
5820 Canton Center Road, Suite 165, Canton, MI 48187
734-451-3582
www.snpo.org
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NONPROFIT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS
Mission-Based Management
As a board member or executive staff member of a nonprofit organization, you’ve
essentially accepted responsibility for a wide variety of business concerns—everything
from hiring the right people, fundraising, making sure that programs run properly and
that your clients value your services.
And, of course, you’ve accepted responsibility for the financial vitality of the
organization.
The primary measure of your success will be your ability to fulfill your financial
obligations, while also achieving your mission.
In profit ventures, leaders have a type of luxury when it comes to decision-making; at all
times, the right decision is the one that will yield the business the largest profit. And the
success of the corporation is measured pretty much by the success of its finances: Has
the value of stock increased? Has the number of “widgets” sold increased? Has the size
of the company grown?
But in non-profit, your success will be measured on two levels: 1) your financial stability
and 2) your ability to manage that stability while also living out the mission and values
you set down when you first formed your 501(c)(3). Because nonprofit organizations use
public money, your decisions will not always be as simple as, “What will bring us the
most money?” Your responsibility is actually greater.
Let’s say your organization has worked hard to develop the following mission statement:
The Recovery Network of Idaho, through education, advocacy and peer support, strives
to promote wellness for people recovering from mental illness and to provide
opportunities for full and meaningful re-integration into their communities.
So far, so good. Your board and staff share a common goal of having consumers
promote recovery among consumers, a fundamental principle of the national consumer
movement. But let’s say that one of your services is an education program that prepares
consumers to work in the public mental health system and that you’ve been so successful
that service providers have started asking if their staff can participate in the training, as
well – for a fee. Now, you have to ask yourself some key questions:

Will we compromise our mission if we offer our services to non-consumers?

Will we spread our human resources too thin to also serve providers?

Will we have opportunities to find other potential markets if we go down this
road?
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
Will doing so unearth other potential funding sources?

Will the fee be “worth it?”
When it’s all said and done, will the Recovery Network be a successful organization—in
both adherence to its mission and adherence to financial obligations? Only you, your
board and your executive staff can decide. But as a nonprofit organization, you’ll have to
get used to making decisions that accommodate dual goals: mission and money.
Responsibility and Control
Once you’ve established yourself as a legal 501(c)(3), you’ve met the basic requirements
of nonprofit business. You’ve filed the forms and paid the fees.
Next come the steps that concern the finances of the group, and one of the primary
questions you’ll need to consider is your commitment to both having control and
accepting responsibility.
On the one hand, if you can control the business, you can be involved in many of the
important decisions: How many people will we hire? Who will be the boss? What will
people get paid?
On the other hand, all of these are strategic questions that may be difficult to answer.
And all of them require that you think hard about how much responsibility you want to
accept from your funding agents, your supporters, your board and your employees.
If you accept responsibility for hiring people, will you also be willing to make sure that
payroll is done on time every pay period? If you help decide who the boss is, will you be
prepared for situations when he or she makes a decision other than the one you believe is
right? If you accept responsibility for determining the salaries of employees, will you be
prepared for the inevitability of them letting you know that they need more?
All business leaders must assess the level of control they need and the responsibility they
want. As you accept your role on the board or executive staff of your new nonprofit, rest
assured that you won’t be alone when you face these challenges. As you gain experience,
and as you govern together, you’ll undoubtedly grow accustomed to balancing the joys of
control with the burdens of responsibility.
Independence and Freedom
Especially when you’re just starting out on a nonprofit business venture, some of the
financial decisions may seem overwhelming and impossible to make. How can you
estimate how many hours you’ll need to staff a warm line? (A warm line is a nonemergency, non-crisis support and referral telephone response service.) Doesn’t that
depend on how many people call? And how can you estimate how much money you’ll
need for fuel for a van when the costs fluctuate weekly? What if you don’t budget enough
money? How will you pay the rent and make payroll?
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At some point, you may think about falling back on organizations that may have
supported you during your initial development or perhaps acted as your fiscal agent. You
may be tempted to say, “Tell us what to do.” You’ll undoubtedly find yourself debating
the advantages and disadvantages of independence and freedom.
This “jumping-off” point is both exciting and terrifying for all entrepreneurs—not simply
those starting nonprofits and not simply for people recovering from mental illness. It’s a
critical time, when you should assess your readiness to go out on your own. If your
commitment to your mission is strong and you’ve accessed the many sources of support
we mention in the introduction to this guide, you’ll be in a better position to take a
calculated risk, based on the experiences of other start-up businesses.
Many people who want to do human and social services through nonprofit business have
a perception that the finances are the boring drudgery of their organizations. Many people
who “want to help people” say that they don’t want to get involved in the money.
But most nonprofit leaders say that the finances give them an opportunity to get involved
in the underlying forces that make the organization run. When you understand the budget
of the program you direct, you’ll be better able to make daily decisions about whether to
hire more staff for the warm line—based on the call volume and the costs. And when
you know your organization’s budget, you’ll be better able to plan for the dream of
buying even one more van to reach more consumers than you’re currently able to do.
By accepting the financial obligations of the business, you’ll gain both skill and
knowledge in how to not only answer the questions above, but also in how to strategically
plan for your organization’s future. Not only will you grow, but so will your business!
Involvement and Oversight
Some nonprofit business leaders make the erroneous assumption that their lawyers,
Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) or auditors are responsible for the finances of the
business. Or they look to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for all leadership and
decision-making concerning the spending of funds. Both of these assumptions are more
wrong than any nonprofit consultant could express.
Especially in today’s business climate, the law is clear that the people who are actually
responsible for the accuracy of the business’ finances are its board of directors (or board
of trustees). And since the board has hire/fire authority over the organization’s executive
staff, the members look to this high-level management for the facts. While lawyers, CPAs
and auditors must sign-off on their consultative services for a business, ultimately the full
responsibility for acting on the information provided by these consultants belongs to the
board.
As such, it makes sense to avoid pushing off all of the “money stuff” to only the
accountant or the one person in the agency who creates the financial statements. For any
organization to thrive, board members and executives must stay involved in the business
management and learn about the assets, liabilities, income and expenses of the agency.
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Over time—and with help from consultants—they must learn how to spot trends,
opportunities and possible inaccuracies in the organization’s financial information. And
they must oversee the use and investment of the organization’s assets. Later in this guide,
we’ll review the conventional tools and documents used to perform this oversight. But
from the beginning, choose board members who are willing to get involved in the
financial health of your business. That involvement will protect against the instability that
can result when the one financial expert chooses to move on or can no longer contribute.
Time and Money
More than any other management fundamental, new nonprofit business leaders need to
understand that their ability to track and budget finances depends on their understanding
that all money in a healthy business flows—and all money flows within a specified
time frame.
All financial statements present a financial “snapshot” of a specific period of time: bank
statements, balance sheets, tax statements. All of them help you understand the rate at
which your money comes in and goes out, so that you can pace the activity of your
business.
A simple example is your monthly bank statement. The balance of funds in your account
shown at the bottom includes transactions that occurred during the dates shown at the top.
If a check you wrote in that time frame isn’t listed as “cleared” on the statement, then you
have to account for that fact. You can’t spend the entire amount shown because you have
to count the amount of the check that hasn’t yet cleared. Figure 1 shows a Sample Bank
Statement.
Figure 1. Sample of Bank Statement
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A more complicated example might be your organization’s budget with receivables
coming in from two different grants. While the funds from Grant 1 may not come in at
the exact time you need them to pay for something related to Grant 2, you can use the
money from Grant 1—as long as you remember that you’ve got expenses related to both
projects that have to paid at a specific time. Figure 2 is an example of a Conceptual Cash
Flow.
Income
Grant 1 = $12,000 (total for year)
January-March = $3,000
April – June = $3,000
July – September =$3,000
October – December $3,000
Expenses
Grant 1
January – March = $10,000
Grant 2 = $32,000 (total for year)
January-March = $8.000
April – June = $0.000
July – September =$0.00
October – December $24,000
Grant 2
October – December = $32,000
Total Income for 2009 = $44,000
Figure 2. Conceptual Cash Flow
For example, let’s say that Grant 1 is for a van service to a self-help center. The initial
cost will be $10,000 to buy the van, then $2,000 for the rest of the year to pay for gas. So
technically, you’ve got enough money, but your funder plans to let the cash flow in at the
rate of $3,000 in each quarter of the year. How do you buy the van? To manage your cash
flow between January and March, you could cover the cost of the van by borrowing
$7,000 from Grant 2.
And let’s say that Grant 2 is to hold a conference, and the funder knows you won’t need
most of the money until the event is over in December. So, most of the cash will flow in
to you only at the end of the year.
To really manage your cash flow, you’ll have to remember that you’ll need the $7,000
you borrowed from Grant 2 in March to meet your expenses in December.
If your cash flows too slowly, you have to slow down spending. If your cash flows too
fast, you have to hold on to it for the expenses coming up in the next period of time.
Good financial managers use specific tools to manage and document “cash flow”; they
don’t actually keep all of the information in their heads. We’ll review some of these tools
later in this guide.
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ACQUIRING FUNDS
In the same way that profit ventures must prioritize sales to achieve the organization’s
success, nonprofit business leaders must focus a significant amount of resources on
acquiring funds, or fundraising. For nonprofits, that task is usually referred to as
development, which implies that the ongoing acquisition of funds is what’s ultimately
required to “develop” the organization. And in most nonprofits, the Director of
Development is the single person whose job it is to focus on how to acquire funds.
If your organization is young, it’s likely that the members of the board or the executive
management are the people who take on that job, but as a nonprofit business grows, the
business usually needs to hire staff who dedicates all of their efforts to this single, critical
task.
In other National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center (NCSTAC) guides,
such as Fundraising Basics and Guide to Proposal Writing, you learned that fundraising
is one of the most important activities your organization will undertake and that
successfully acquiring funds requires designing a fundraising plan that includes:

Setting organizational goals

Evaluating your current fundraising program

Setting fundraising goals (separate from the organization’s goals)

Setting a development budget

Setting an action plan

Evaluating your fundraising efforts overall
It’s easy to see why a successful nonprofit would need to dedicate significant time and
resources to fundraising; it’s a lot of work. The development staff in most nonprofit
businesses spend all of their time researching potential funding sources, establishing
relationships with funding sources, making sure they understand the organization’s
programs and services well enough to “sell” the organization to funders and learning
which types of groups are giving—and why.
Stewardship
The competition for nonprofit funds is tremendous, so development staff need to nurture,
or steward, the relationships they have with potential funders, or prospects. A close
relationship between prospects and your organization is at the core of most activities that
typically lead to significant giving and often is nurtured over months and years.
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Once you’ve got an idea for a good prospect, you can try several of the following ideas as
ways to steward that positive relationship:

Arrange a personal meeting with your board president or executive director.

Send a report on the impact of gifts you’ve received in the past.

Seek advice from the prospect on his or her area of expertise.

Involve the prospect in cultivating other possible donors.

Honor the prospect with awards and special recognition.

Send personal congratulations on birthdays, anniversaries and promotions.

Recruit the prospect to serve in a key role at a special event.

Invite the prospect to do a workshop for staff.

Invite the prospect to serve on a trustee or advisory board.

Communicate regularly with annual reports, brochures and speech reprints.

Send frequent personal notes about items and events that interest the prospect.
At the most, each of these strategies gives you an opportunity to reassert your
organization’s presence and show off its good work. At the least, they give you a chance
to simply remind the prospect that you want to create a donor relationship.
In the profit world of sales, all professionals have a “tickler” system that helps them keep
track of the people they’ve called on and when. It’s a good idea for development staff in
your nonprofit to create a similar system for keeping track of your work with prospects,
so that they can follow-up in a timely manner with action steps that may arise during
conversations.
Figure 3 shows a Prospect Biographical Form, so that you’ve always got an idea of why a
particular prospect is interesting to you. Figure 4 is a Prospect Tracking Form that helps
you keep track of conversations you’ve had and the agreed upon time for you to
reconnect with a prospect. Keeping promises is a core activity of stewardship. You’ll
impress prospects if you take the initiative for follow-up, which will help them come to
the conclusion that investing in your nonprofit is going to be a worthwhile endeavor.
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Prospect’s Full Name
Nickname
Home Address (City, State, Zip Code)
Business Title
Business Address (City, State, Zip Code)
Home Phone Number
Business Phone Number
Date of Birth
Marital Status
Spouse’s or Partner’s Name
Spouse’s or Partner’s Occupation
Spouse’s or Partner’s Date of Birth
Religious Affiliation
Hobbies
Professional Affiliations
Education (Name of School, Major,
Graduation Year)
Children’s Name, Sex, Date of Birth
Estimated Annual Income
Estimated Net Worth
Recent Gifts to Organization (Year,
Amount, Purpose)
Relationship with Organization
Figure 3. Prospect Biographical Form
Prospect’s Name & Address:
Date
Person Making
Contact
Summary of
Contact
Amount Asked
Next Steps
New
Information
Gathered
Figure 4. Prospect Tracking Form
$
$
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Diversification
Just as nonprofit leaders accept that fundraising must be a constant, vigilant focus of their
work, they also accept that any good fundraising plan must include a diverse balance of
types of funds. As in all business activity, diversification is the strategy you should use to
ensure that your organization survives even if it loses funding in one area. A balanced
and diversified fundraising plan includes a mix of the following types of funds:
Annual Gifts
Annual fund appeals typically bring in low-level but numerous gifts. They’re important
because they serve to establish a firm donor base, bring in somewhat predictable annual
income, encourage habitual giving and bring in funds that can be used for any purpose.
Annual gifts typically result from a letter or phone call.
Mail appeals are by the far the most common method used by nonprofits to secure annual
gifts. Generally, mail is the least expensive way to reach out to potential donors because
your nonprofit can use “bulk-rates” that other types of businesses can’t. Because the
appeal arrives in the mail, the potential donor has a reminder to return it to you and can
take action when it’s convenient for him or her.
Compared with mail appeals, telephone solicitations produce higher participation rates,
often reaching 25 percent to 50 percent or more. One useful idea is to select from among
your mail donors those who have given above a certain level, say $50, to be solicited by
telephone. Telephone appeals are great ways to involve your entire board and volunteers.
Special Events
Many nonprofits raise money by holding “special events,” such as bake sales, car washes,
golf outings, dinners and auctions. In addition to helping you raise money, they also
provide opportunities for you to advertise your business and meet new people who may
want to get involved with your cause. But others decide not to include special events in
their fundraising plans because of the “net” funds (what you raise minus what you paid
upfront for invitations, site rentals, food, etc.) sometimes aren’t worth it. Special events
also have hidden costs, such as staff and volunteer time, which some nonprofits decide
should be spent on other fundraising or program activity. Finally, some donors conclude
that they don’t need to give their “annual gift” if they’re also paying for a ticket to your
special event. So the decision to do special events as a fundraising strategy is one that
you and your board should consider carefully.
Major Gifts
In contrast to annual gifts, major gifts are typically designated for a particular project or
program. They are often a one-time commitment of an individual’s assets and are usually
made after a development director has thoroughly researched the prospect’s financial
situation, patterns of giving and charitable tax benefits. Major gift work requires intensive
and personal contacts with prospects over time, often several years.
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Board of Directors’ Gifts
Some nonprofits establish policies that require that members of the Board of Directors
donate a financial “gift” to the organization as part of the requirements to serve. If that’s
the case, the organization usually tries to find board members who have some financial
standing in the community or who can garner financial support from others when the
need arises.
Unsolicited Gifts
You can imagine that a Development Director’s best type of gift is one that he or she
didn’t even work for. Sometimes, donors give unsolicited gifts, meaning they simply
want to give money to your particular organization or your cause—even though you
never mailed anything to them, called them or invited them to an event. Clearly, you
can’t budget for these kinds of gifts, but as your organization grows in size and stature,
it’s conceivable that you will receive them.
Matching Gifts
Sometimes companies institute policies that encourage their employees to give to the
charities of their choice by agreeing to “match” the employee’s gift (sometimes dollar for
dollar). When a donor gives to your organization, it pays to ask if his or her employer has
such a policy, which obviously increases the size of the donation and also causes the
donor to feel that he or she went the extra mile to help your cause. These awards are
sometimes called “challenge awards.”
Planned Giving
Once an organization has established itself in the community and has a proven track
record, donors may decide to give “planned gifts,” such as cash, securities, real estate,
insurance, trusts, bequests and personal property. These sources of funds have distinct
advantages and disadvantages for nonprofits, in terms of when they’re available, and they
also offer donors tax benefits that significantly reduce their income and estate taxes.
Grants or Contracts
Many of the existing mental health consumer-run nonprofits in the United States receive
their first funding in the form of a grant or a contract. Some of the most common types
of grants are:


Project or program award—funds to achieve a specific outcome within a defined
time frame.
Operating award—general financial support to a nonprofit without expectations
that the money will be used for a specific activity, for example, paying the rent or
phone bill, regular costs of running a business.
Page 17



Start-up award—funds to help an organization take the beginning steps for an
initiative, sometimes also called a “seed award.”
Capital award—funds to help build or remodel facilities or acquire equipment.
Endowment award—funds to be invested, with part of the annual income realized
by the investment to be used for some specific purpose, such as a scholarship for
attendance at a conference.
In most cases, a government or foundation issued a Request for Letters of Interest
(RLI) or Request for Proposals (RFP). These are documents through which a funding
source announces their intention to fund specific types of projects. When you’re just
starting out, it will be most productive to focus your efforts on awards that are solicited
through RLIs and RFPs. Later, when you’ve established your business, you may be able
to suggest projects to a funder; in those cases, the funds would be considered unsolicited.
In the case of an RLI, your response is a letter; in the case of an RFP, your response is a
full proposal. (You may already have reviewed NCSTAC’s Guide to Proposal Writing,
which gives the basics of all proposals.)
If the source wants only letters-of-interest, that means they are trying to determine
whether any nonprofits have the capacity and desire to provide a new program or service.
The letter that you write in response must provide specific information, but generally the
task is far less difficult than responding to a full RFP.
An RFP describes the type of program the source wants to fund, the expected outcomes
and the criteria you must meet to be considered for an award. The funder may also
specify the time to be permitted for the project, a range of acceptable costs, the
geographical area of the clientele to be serviced, and sometimes the actual procedures or
methods they expect an applicant to use. If your application is accepted, you are awarded
a contract to provide the program or service you described. If the criteria and outcomes
are not yet determined by the source, you may be given a grant, which legally gives you
much more control over how you use the funds than if awarded a contract.
For many consumer nonprofits, their original grant or contract came directly from a
government agency, such as the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA)’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). At other
times, the grant “passed through” an existing nonprofit to the consumer nonprofit. For
example, NCSTAC uses some of the funds it receives from CMHS to fund “mini-grants”
to consumer nonprofits that are established as 501(c)(3)s and whose boards are made up
of at least 51 percent consumers.
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To become knowledgeable about funding opportunities being offered by CMHS, take the
time to do the following:

Review the SAMHSA website (www.samhsa.gov) on a regular basis.

Sign up for their email lists.

Get on the mailing lists of the five consumer/survivor technical assistance centers,
which are charged with, among other services, disseminating timely information
to consumer/survivors about funding opportunities. Contact information for these
organizations is included in the Appendix at the end of this guide.
The SAMHSA website is a comprehensive, well-maintained source that your Director of
Development should become familiar with. When you visit the site, click on the
“Grants” link, where you’ll then see information about current grant programs, grants that
CMHS awarded in the previous year, instructions on how to apply and a list of awards
organized by the state that received them.
While CMHS is undoubtedly the single federal agency most familiar with consumer
issues, other agencies offer grants and contracts that may apply to people with mental
illnesses. For example, the Administration for Native Americans or the Administration
on Aging may be good places to also check if your nonprofit serves those populations.
For a complete list of federal agencies, go to www.usa.gov.
Regardless of which agency or administration, federal-level proposals are traditionally
the most difficult and time-consuming because of the volume and specificity that the
federal government requires, in addition to many ancillary forms that every application
must contain. Because Congress ultimately oversees federal agencies, those government
sources tend to be quite strict with regard to the required contents of proposals written at
that level.
For this reason, many consumer groups actually get start-up funding from their state- or
county-level governments and sustain themselves by becoming service providers on those
levels. To become knowledgeable about funding on the state level, create a working,
ongoing relationship with the following administrators:

Your state’s mental health authority, the state entity responsible for administering
funds in the public sector for programs that serve people with mental illness, such
as state psychiatric hospitals, partial care programs, outpatient services and dropin centers. The mental health authority in every state oversees funds that are given
to each state in the form of federal “mental health block grants,” as well as
funds from your own state budget. (Visit www.usa.gov and click on “State
Government”.)
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

Your state’s administrator of Medicaid, the government agency charged with
administering the federal health insurance programs known as Medicaid and the
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Many states fund their
mental health services with “matching funds” from Medicaid, which means that,
for every dollar that a state contributes, the federal Medicaid program will
reimburse that state according to a certain percentage.
Your consumer/supporter mental health administrator, a person employed by the
state authority to attend to all consumer affairs. To learn the name and contact
information for that person, visit the website of the National Association of State
Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), click on
“Divisions/Councils/Affiliates then choose “NAC/SMHA.”
Aside from government grants and contracts, your fundraising plan should include
significant efforts to secure grant funding from foundations and corporations.
According to the Foundation Center, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to
strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about philanthropy. Giving by
the nation’s 71,000 grant making foundations rose to $40.7 billion in 2006, an 11.7
percent gain followed a 14.3 percent increase in 2005. Independent and family
foundations—which account for nearly nine out of ten foundations—increased their
giving by 10.3 percent in 2006, while corporate foundation giving grew 6 percent.
Nearly 60 percent of these 71,000 foundations expect their giving to increase in 2007,
and overall funding will likely continue to grow at a double-digit pace.
Most nonprofit business leaders looking for appropriate foundations and corporations use
the Foundation Center resources for the simple reason that many of the resources can be
accessed at their website, www.foundationcenter.org. The most useful feature is the
Foundation Directory Online, which allows development directors to quickly research
prospects by the geographic areas to which they give, the primary causes or issues they
prioritize and the average size of their awards. This online tool also lets you search for
the foundation’s Form 990, the form that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires
nonprofits to submit every year. The Form 990 for a foundation shows the actual dollar
amounts that the organization was awarded.
Another useful service of the Foundation Center includes the availability of various email
lists to which they regularly email notices of RFPs being issued by foundations and
corporations. Without question, nonprofit businesses should take advantage of the vast
resources available through the Foundation Center. While their subscription rates (from
about $200 per year to $12,000) are often too expensive for most mental health consumer
businesses, many of their services can be accessed through the center’s Cooperating
Collections. These are free funding-information centers in libraries, community
foundations, and other nonprofit resource centers that provide a core collection of the
Foundation Center’s publications and a variety of supplementary materials and services
useful to grant seekers.
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Participants in the Foundation Center’s Cooperating Collections network are libraries or
nonprofit information centers that provide fundraising information and other fundingrelated technical assistance in their communities. Cooperating Collections agree to
provide free public access to a basic collection of Foundation Center publications during
a regular schedule of hours, offering free funding research guidance to all visitors. Many
also provide a variety of services for local nonprofit organizations, using staff or
volunteers to prepare special materials, organize workshops or conduct orientations.
Some of the Cooperating Collections provide access to FC Search: The Foundation’s
Center Database on CD-ROM, while others provide free access to the actual Foundation
Directory Online.
Once you find a foundation that matches your needs, visit their individual website, if
available, or write to them to receive their guidelines for giving. This information tells the
story of what a particular foundation looks for in proposals, as well as their schedule for
receiving letters of interest (LOIs) or full proposals. In all cases, follow the guidelines
carefully when approaching a foundation; most of them measure the viability of an
organization by its ability to follow their “rules.”
Finally, pay attention to the large corporations that are located in your vicinity and check
the websites of their foundations. Very often, corporations prioritize the immediate
community near their offices to offer grants and employee volunteer services. Once you
review their website and get to know a little about their main giving areas, call the office
of the corporation’s foundation to see if you can arrange a meeting to discuss how your
group successfully contributes to the betterment of your community. Chances are, the
foundation isn’t even aware of the needs of people with mental illness recovering there;
the foundation will undoubtedly appreciate your initiative to explain the scope of the
problem and your work to solve it.
In-Kind Gifts and Donations
When thinking about your overall fundraising plan, do not forget about in-kind gifts and
donations. In-kind gifts are ones that another organization (profit or nonprofit) gives
your organization without expecting financial payment. For example, your local MHA
affiliate may offer you business office space, copy machines, phone service and
sometimes even the services of its staff. Or your local grocery store may supply your
group with the refreshments for your support group meetings. Always keep a list of the
awards you’ve received “in-kind,” along with their estimated values. In some cases, they
provide indispensable budget items, such as rent, that you’d never be able to afford
without their generosity. In all cases, they demonstrate to a government or a foundation
that your organization has a good reputation in your community, has the ability to
maximize resources, has a good base of references that can add letters of support to your
proposal and is committed to making your business work.
Page 21
Medicaid and Mental Health
Most states use Medicaid funding from the federal government to provide a large
portion of their mental health services, such as case management and medication
monitoring. For that reason, it’s customary for the two agencies in the state that
administrator mental health dollars and Medicaid reimbursements to work closely
together.
As soon as possible, try to arrange a meeting with both of those offices to begin to
learn the intricacies of how your state actually funds its mental health services.
In particular, discuss with those administrators the possibility of using the
Medicaid Rehabilitation Option to establish the use of peer specialists in your
state, consumers who themselves are credentialed to provide recovery-oriented
services to other consumers.
Historically, states have used the Clinic Option of Medicaid to fund their services.
As the name implies, the Medicaid Clinic Option assumes that a consumer is very
ill and should attend a community mental health clinic to receive services. Some
consumers refer to this limitation as “the medical model” because it stresses
illness, rather than recovery and rehabilitation.
Since Medicaid began reimbursing for disability services, such as those for
mental illness, policy makers have come to understand that consumers attempting
to recover in the community, in reality, need services that help them rehabilitate
their lives. And in most cases, it’s more useful for the services to go to the
consumer through outreach programs, rather than expecting the consumer to go
to clinics or partial care centers.
As a result, many states have sought waivers to their Medicaid plans that
reimburse community organizations that provide supported housing, supportive
education, supported employment and the services of peer specialists. A waiver is
a way for your state to be excluded from, or have “waived,” some of the federal
Medicaid regulations in order to accommodate specific challenges in a given
state.
Throughout the country, the number of waiver applications submitted to the
federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency charged
with administering those programs throughout the states, has grown significantly,
especially for services designed for people with disabilities.
This trend parallels the growing understanding that institutionalization—in
hospitals or community partial care programs—is an ineffective, and expensive,
way to treat people with mental illness in the public mental health system.
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Increasingly, states have demonstrated that people with mental illness can, and
do, recover if offered wellness-oriented services designed to empower them and
return them to an independent lifestyle.
In 2006, Congress acknowledged this trend—and the wisdom of reimbursing for
rehabilitative services—when it passed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which
makes it easier for states to begin to use “the Rehab Option” and to apply for
waivers, in some cases, without having to pass legislation to amend their state
plans.
As a result, CMS recently issued “guidance” to the states outlining the
requirements to establish a “certification of peer specialist.” Once a consumer has
earned a certification in peer specialism, the services he or she performs are
reimbursable by Medicaid, which motivates community mental health agencies to
hire them more readily.
This guidance gives states the authority to choose to deliver peer support services
under several Medicaid funding authorities including, but not necessarily limited
to, the following:

Section 1905(a)(13)

1915(b) Waiver Authority

1915(c) Waiver Authority

1115 Demonstration Projects

The following sections of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005:
o Section 6044: Use of Benchmark Benefit Packages
o Section 6086: Expanded Access to Home and Community-Based
Services for the Elderly and Disabled
o Section 6086: Optional Choice of Self-Directed Personal
Assistance Services (Cash and Counseling)
It’s unrealistic to think that all of the language in CMS’ guidance will make sense
to you if you’re just starting to learn about the way your state leverages federal
Medicaid dollars. But by establishing working, professional relationships with
your state mental health authority, your Medicaid authority and your
consumer/survivor mental health administrator, you can begin the learning
process. You can also check some of the sources listed at the back of this guide.
Page 23
CMS’s guidance describes the minimum requirements for the supervision, care
coordination and training for peer support services:
Supervision
Supervision must be provided by a mental health professional as defined by the
state, in a manner consistent with that received by other mental health
professionals. The amount, duration and scope of supervision will vary depending
on State Practice Acts, the demonstrated competency and experience of the peer
support provider, as well as the service mix, and may range from direct oversight
to periodic care consultation.
Care-Coordination
As with all Medicaid-funded services, peer support services must be coordinated
with other services that the individual is receiving. Care coordination must be
documented in a comprehensive, individual plan of care. CMS recommends that a
person-centered planning process be employed to help promote participant
ownership of the plan of care. CMS encourages and supports the use of personcentered planning methods in service plan development. Such methods actively
engage and empower the participant and individuals selected by the participant in
leading and directing the design of the service plan and, thereby, ensure that the
plan reflects the needs and preference of the participant.
Training and Credentialing
The peer must demonstrate the ability to support the recovery of others from
mental illness and/or substance use disorders. Peers must complete certification
training, as defined by the state. Training must provide peers with a basic set of
competencies necessary to perform the peer support function. Continuing
educational opportunities must also be made available to peer support providers.
Out of necessity, consumers in some states have already begun to establish peer
specialism, and CMHS has begun actively helping consumer nonprofits to learn
about this important opportunity.
To talk to consumer leaders in other states about their efforts and experience with
peer specialism, you can reach out to the National Association of Peer Specialists
(NAPS) at www.naops.org or 616-676-9230. (Note that the web address contains
an “o”.) In addition, several national consumer organizations, such as the
Depression Bipolar Support Alliance, NAMI and Mental Health America have
materials designed to help you begin the process. Information about how to reach
these groups is provided in the Appendix at the end of this guide.
Page 24
KEEPING RECORDS
As a legal business entity in your state, you’re obligated to save all documents related to
the incorporation of your 501(c)(3): Articles of Incorporation, bylaws, mission statement,
tax exemption statements (state and federal level) and statements identifying your Federal
Employee Identification Number.
It’s also required that you create, maintain and save all financial documents for several
important reasons:




Detailed records will be necessary for you to manage the business. Regardless of
the size of your budget, you’ll need an organized record system to keep track of
where and when money’s coming and going.
You’re legally obligated to have the business audited on an annual basis, and your
auditor will need this information to do his or her job. Most funding sources want
to see the last audit report as part of a grant application, so you’ll want to be sure
that your auditor has complete, accurate and up-to-date records to work with.
We’ll talk about audits more in the section titled “Reporting Financial
Information.”
Your board should be reviewing all financial documents on a monthly basis. One
of the primary roles of a nonprofit board is to help executive staff monitor the
financial health of the organization. In order to do monthly reports that are truly
useful to them, you’ll need to have your facts straight and ready to present in a
clear fashion.
Someday, you may leave the organization, but your successor will need to pick up
where you left off preventing the business from destabilizing. Often times, “the
financials” are the only documentation about the current activity of the business.
Forms
Right off the bat, you can anticipate that certain monies always fall into certain
categories, for example, travel costs or office supplies. So, create a form that captures
that information for each single occurrence throughout a given month. Make sure that
you’ve got a receipt for each occurrence.
Then, at the end of the month, all you’ll need to do to add up the sum for that category
as shown on every form. Figure 5 shows a Sample Travel Form, so you can see the how
the numbers are captured on the form.
Mental Health America
TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT
Reports are to be completed, and required for any expense over $25.00, unless travel is under a federal project, then
reimbursement is limited to the lesser of actual expenses of per diem. Timely and accurately submitted MHA employee
reimbursements may be processed within 7 business days of receipt. All other reimbursements will be processed within 1530 business days. Failure to submit an expense report within 30 business days from the travel date along with receipts for all
expenses may result in the non-payment of expenses. Undocumented expenses paid for with Mental Health America credit
cards will also be deducted from your next paycheck.
Reimbursable expenses include: airfare (Mental Health America travel agent), lodging, meals (not to exceed $45 daily per diem unless
travel is under a federal project, then reimbursement is limited to the lessor of actual cost or federal per diem), car rental (if less expensive
than public transportation), taxis, parking, tolls, tips (up to 15%) phone charges (air & car phones excluded), faxes, air freight-overnight
delivery, and postage.
Non-reimbursable include: Baby sitting, country club dues, personal entertainment, luggage, briefcases, airline club dues, traffic fines,
in-room movies, hair cuts, kennel fees, laundry, dry cleaning, valet, and alcoholic beverages.
Name of Traveler:
Return to:
Dates of Travel:
Mail Check:
Purpose of Travel:
________________________
________________________
________________________________________________________
DATE:
Air/Rail/Train/Bus
Fare
Mileage – miles @
.485 cents per mile
Auto Rental
Taxi
Parking
Lodging
Meals
Registration Fees
Other (list)
TOTALS
TOTAL
SUMMARIZED EXPENSES
Transportation
G/L Account #
Lodging
Meals
Registration Fees
Other
Total
Less
Total
Signature of Traveler
Date
Figure 5. Sample of Travel Form
Program Code
Totals
Travel Expenses:
Less Travel Advance:
Expenses paid by MHA:
Amount Due or (Owed)
(For amount owed, attach a check payable to Mental Health America)
Signature
of Dept Head or traveler’s supervisor
__
Date
Page 26
Bank Accounts
Before setting up bank accounts, your board should consider the following:





Does the bank offer the services you’ll need, such as checking, credit or online
banking? If your staff will need credit cards for predictable expenses, you’ll want
a bank that can accommodate your need for both a checking account and credit
card accounts.
Does the bank charge fees for those services, such as a set monthly checking
account charge or a charge for every check you write? Be sure the bank knows
that you’re a nonprofit with tax exemption status because the bank may be able to
waive some of the fees. If you must pay fees, be sure to include that fee in your
operating budget calculations.
Do their accounts pay interest? Is there a required minimum balance? Are there
restrictions on the number of checks you can write?
Who will be authorized to deposit money into the account and who will be
authorized to sign checks? In the process of setting up bank accounts, your banker
will ask your board president or treasurer to sign a form designating specific
people (usually two) who will have those levels of authority. Be sure to consider
whether these people are accessible enough to you to sign checks on the dates that
they must be mailed.
Ask the bank to send your monthly statement on the anticipated date of the
monthly reports you’ll prepare for your board of directors. For example, if you
plan to send monthly reports at the end of the month (usually on the 30th or 31st),
have the bank set the end date for its monthly statement as the end of the month,
as well. This will help you when reconciling your accounts.
Transactions
Cash Receipts
In simple terms, a transaction is the word that describes any movement of cash from or to
your bank account. If the money is coming to you, it’s called a cash receipt. Some good
examples are membership dues or cash contributions.
It’s very important to keep an accurate, monthly record of cash coming to your
organization. If you have a small number of transactions (fewer than five per month), it’s
possible that your checking account register will be enough of a record; if you have
many cash transactions, you should keep a journal.
Page 27
In either case, keep records of the following for every instance of cash coming to your
organization:

Date you received the cash

Sender (individual or business entity)

Amount (including cents)

Category or purpose
Figure 6 shows a typical Cash Receipts Journal.
Date
2/16/08
2/16/08
Sender
Jane Smith
ABC Corporation
Amount
$50.00
$200.00
Purpose
Donation
Donation
$250.00
Total
Figure 6. Sample Cash Receipts Journal
Cash Disbursements
If cash moves from your bank account—for any reason—that transaction is called a
disbursement. For obvious reasons, you must keep a record of every instance of writing
a check to pay an invoice, and you must save the invoice as justification for disbursing
the money. Some good examples are checks written to the phone company, to a credit
card company or to your office supply company.
Again, if you pay very few checks, your checking account register is probably enough of
a record. Otherwise, it’s necessary for you to keep a cash disbursements journal. In any
case, make sure your journal captures the following information in an organized way:

Date

Payee (the individual or business to whom you’re disbursing the cash)

Amount (including cents)

Check number

Category or Purpose
Page 28
Figure 7 shows a typical Cash Disbursements Journal.
Date
2/16/08
2/16/08
Payee
Staples
Kinko’s
Amount
$25.00
$30.00
Check Number
#1201
#1202
Purpose
Supplies
Photocopying
Total
$55.00
Figure 7. Sample Cash Disbursements Journal
Petty Cash
Petty cash is an amount of currency kept on hand in an envelope or a box. Its purpose is
to avoid writing a check for small amounts. Because it technically moves from your
bank account to a petty cash account, you should count it as a cash disbursement.
The board of directors should establish a petty cash account. It should be relatively small
($25, $50 or as much as $100) and should be “used up” fairly frequently—at least every
two months. You do not want too large an amount of cash to sit in a petty cash box.
Doing so is not safe and, the money does not earn interest, as the cash would be doing in
your bank account. You can decide on the amount of your petty cash disbursements once
you determine the frequency at which you deplete the account.
If the amount is set at $50, the money should be spent until a small amount, say $10 is
left. Then, all of the receipts (from stores or explanations from staff) should be totaled
and a check requested for $40—to restore the fund to $50 again. Once you’ve requested
the fund be restored—and justified with receipts—another cash disbursement can be
approved.
Cash disbursement checks for petty cash should be made payable to the custodian of the
petty cash fund (that is, to an individual), not to “cash.” Then you just repeat the cycle.
Credit Cards
Many nonprofit boards decide that credit cards are useful for paying repeated expenses
because much of the recordkeeping is shown on monthly statements. Doing so also
allows you to set up accounts with specific vendors, say Staples or Office Depot, where
you can realize bulk savings and other promotional benefits. If your board decides to use
credit cards, keep the following ideas in mind:

When setting up the credit card accounts, be sure that they’re in the name of the
organization and that they specify authorized people to use them. Clearly, you
should choose employees who have demonstrated trustworthiness and
responsibility before issuing credit cards.
Page 29


Document a policy clearly stating that all purchases must be approved before the
transaction actually occurs. When realistic, try to set up a written approval
process, so that you have a record of having expensed an amount even if you
don’t yet have the bill.
Make sure that card users keep all receipts for purchases made and that they
submit the receipts to you on a regular basis. When the bills come in from the
credit card company, the receipts will be the only record you have of approved (or
unapproved) expenses. Auditors will need to see receipts, as well.
Reconciling a Checking Account
In general, you should balance all of your bank statements—savings and
checking—looking for accuracy on both yours and your bank’s part. In the
case of checking accounts, because cash moves into and out of these types of
accounts frequently, you should reconcile your account on a weekly basis. By
doing so, you’ll always have a sense of how much money you have to spend,
and you can avoid unnecessary (and painful) charges for overdrafts.
When you receive your checking account statement (or when you view it
online), you should:
1. Trace each deposit in your checkbook register to the bank statement.
Put a checkmark in the register next to each deposit shown on the
statement. (Any deposit not shown because of the usual one- or twoday time lag is an “outstanding deposit.”
2. Trace each cancelled (or returned) check on the statement to your
checkbook register. Put a checkmark in your register next to each
check that has been cancelled. Note any checks in your register that
haven’t yet been cancelled; these are “outstanding checks.”
3. Check the end date for the statement and make sure that you’re
reconciling the account for the same period of time as the statement
shows.
Page 30
4. Make notes of other reconciling items. For example, if there’s a
monthly service charge, add the charge to your register in the “credit”
column (the one you subtract) and put a checkmark next to it, to show
that your bank has applied the charge and you’ve accounted for it.
Conversely, if there’s interest earned, add the amount in your register
in the “deposit” column (the one you add). Put a checkmark next to it
to, again, to remind you that the bank has applied the amount and that
you’ve accounted for it.
5. Check that the amount the bank thinks you have as a balance—as of
the statement end date—is equal to the amount you’ve calculated in
your register. If the amounts don’t equal each other, that is, they don’t
reconcile, go back and double-check yours and the bank’s arithmetic.
Also double-check that you’re not counting an outstanding check or
forgetting a deposit.
6. Take note of deposits and checks that haven’t “cleared” and add or
subtract them from the balance the bank statement shows. The figure
you arrive at is the amount you really have in your account to spend.
When you get your next statement, check that outstanding deposits
and checks from the last month have been applied. If an outstanding
deposit still hasn’t cleared, call the bank to let them know about the
error. (You’ll need your deposit receipt to prove you’re accurate.) If an
outstanding check hasn’t cleared after two months, call the company
or person to whom you wrote the check to be sure they received it. If
possible, ask them to process the check, so that your records are as
accurate and up-to-date as possible. If they haven’t yet received the
check, you may want to “cancel it” with your bank as lost; banks often
charge for this service, so take this step only if you really can’t
account for the check.
Page 31
BALANCING BUDGETS
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
You might imagine that managing the finances of an organization can be as unique as
your organization, but in reality, many states require that all business entities—both profit
and nonprofit—use generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to keep track of
and report financial information.
These principles are a set of uniform, minimum standards of and guidelines to financial
accounting and reporting. They govern the form and content of the basic financial
statements of an organization.
GAAP for nonprofit organizations are basically set by the Financial Accounting
Standards Board (FASB), a private organization that is financially controlled and
supported by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), itself a nonprofit. It’s
important for you to learn the basics of GAAP because other groups with which you’ll
interface will prefer or require that your financial information be presented using GAAP:



Your state government, when requesting your annual report
Foundations and corporations, when requesting the financial statements that must
accompany a grant proposal
Creditors, such as banks or lending institutions, when considering your
organization for a loan

Auditors who will assess and certify the financial stability of your organization

Large vendors or contractors, such as your state government
Remember, that your board is ultimately responsible for the financial health of your
organization. Having financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP makes
them more understandable, easier to compare, and better able to represent the full,
financial state of affairs of your nonprofit.
Page 32
So what are GAAP?
Accountants work with five broad principles, or categories of money, when reporting
about an organization’s financial activity. GAAP is based on the concept that all activity
falls into one of these five categories:
1. Assets
2. Liabilities
3. Equity
4. Revenue
5. Expenses
Assets, Liabilities and Equity
Asset, as its name implies, is something that’s good for your organization. In accounting
terms, it roughly means, “what you own.” Assets are things of value, such as cash,
investments, office furniture or automobiles.
Liabilities, on the other hand, are “what you owe,” or are liable for. Some examples of
liabilities are car loans, a bank line of credit or a mortgage on a building.
These are broad definitions that help you categorize the various monies you’re managing.
According to GAAP’s strict definition, assets are “probable future economic benefits
obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events.”
This definition sounds harder, but is meant to provide a broader concept, so that you can
categorize assets that may not be as simple as things you outright own.
For example, let’s say you’ve got business insurance that costs $500 a year. If you pay
that entire premium in January (that is, you “pre-pay” it), you don’t have to pay monthly
or quarterly amounts. You don’t actually “own” the insurance, but you certainly no
longer have to list the payments as a liability for the remainder of the year. So the $500
becomes an asset.
This example illustrates how GAAP helps you think in terms of all of the financial
activity going on in your organization, as well as to organize it in a way that you and
other entities can review and analyze it. By adhering to the principle that the insurance is
now an asset, you can avoid having to put the figure in an “other” or “miscellaneous”
category, which will undoubtedly become unwieldy and which other entities may not
understand.
For a nonprofit business, equity is an organization’s assets minus its liabilities. In other
words, the equity is the monetary value of the organization once all of its liabilities are
paid.
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Equity = Assets – Liabilities
So if you have $100,000 in assets, but you owe $80,000 to a bank or mortgage company,
your equity would be $20,000. If you were to sell your business, a potential buyer would
say that your business is worth $20,000 and offer you some figure approaching it. He or
she wouldn’t offer you $100,000 because that includes your debt, or liability.
$20,000 = $100,000 – $80,000
Some other terms for equity are “net worth” (what’s left in the net once you remove
liabilities) and “fund balance.”
Seeking Balance
Without going too deeply into mathematics or accounting, let’s take another look at the
equity formula. Notice how you can easily change the formula to calculate your
nonprofit’s assets:
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
$100,000 = $80,000 + $20,000
This restatement of the formula is called the GAAP accounting equation and can be
thought of as a balancing act, where one side (Assets) cannot exceed, or be exceeded by,
the other (Liabilities + Equity). If a business is stable and healthy, its financial
statements will always reveal this fundamental balance.
This restatement is also the basic framework for a Statement of Financial Position (also
called a Balance Sheet), whose structure remains the same for every type of
business—profit or nonprofit. Figure 8 shows the fundamental structure of a Sample
Statement of Financial Position.
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS OF AUGUST 30, 2012
ASSETS
Current Assets
Operating Cash Balance
Current Receivables
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS
10,000
150,000
160,000
Other Assets
Long Term Receivables
Investments
Furniture and Equipment
TOTAL OTHER ASSETS
300,000
500,000
75,000
TOTAL ASSETS
875,000
1,035,000
LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable
Accrued Expenses
Payroll Withholding
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES
15,000
2,000
500
17,500
Long Term Liabilities
Capital Lease
200,000
TOTAL LIABILITIES
NET ASSETS
Unrestricted
Undesignated
Temporarily Restricted
Permanently Restricted
TOTAL NET ASSETS
TOTAL LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS
Figure 8. Sample Statement of Financial Position
217,500
Balance Y-T-D Change Y-T-D
1/1/07
In Net Assets Balance
300,000
17,500 317,500
150,000
250,000
400,000
100,000 250,000
0 250,000
100,000 500,000
817,500
1,035,000
Page 35
If you remember that the amounts on either side of the equal sign (=) must be equal, you
can see how, when someone refers to a balanced budget, he or she refers to the fact that
the assets on the left equal the liabilities plus the fund balance (or equity or net worth) on
the right. By understanding what types of financial categories are considered assets and
which ones are considered liabilities, you can organize your financial activity according
to GAAP and in a balanced way.
Some of the types of assets often found on a nonprofit’s balance sheet are:









Cash
Cash Equivalents (investments that will mature in one year or less)
Investments (investments that will mature in more than one year)
Contributions receivable
Accounts receivable
Other receivables
Inventories
Property, plant and equipment
Prepaid expenses
On a balance sheet that’s prepared according to GAAP, the assets will be listed in the
order of liquidity, meaning closest to being cash, so the list above is the order in which
balance sheets will typically present assets.
On the other hand, liabilities are listed in the order of maturity, where the first due to be
paid off are listed first, followed by those that will be paid in the more distant future.
Revenues and Expenses
Revenue, also called “income,” is what the organization earns. Examples of
revenue are:

Contributions and similar direct public support (for example, from a special
event)

Program service revenue (for example, from your state mental health authority)

Grant revenue (for example, from a foundation)

Interest and dividend income (for example, from your savings account)

Rental income (for example, from a self-help center)
Keep in mind that, except with contributions, your business has to “earn” the money if
something is to be considered revenue. So, money you receive from borrowing, for
example, is not considered revenue.
Page 36
Expenses, on the other hand, are amounts that you pay for labor, goods and services, so
you can continue to provide your services. Examples of expenses include rent, salaries,
utilities and insurance.
Generally, expenses fall into three categories:
1. Program expenses (for example, a salary for a director)
2. Management and Administrative Expenses (for example, health insurance
benefits for that director)
3. Fund-raising Expenses (for example, food and beverage at a restaurant)
Organizations that are planning major, long-term purchases of assets, such as buildings or
photocopiers that will help the organization earn revenue over a number of years, call
those costs capital items, rather than expenses. In these cases, organizations prepare a
separate capital budget, which lists the start and completion dates, the estimated costs and
the expected method of financing. Depending on the project, a capital budget would help
your board manage the costs of capital purchases over a specific period of time, say three
to five years. When a capital budget is appropriate, its funding is usually separate from
the overall budget for an organization.
The Bottom Line
An organization’s Statement of Revenue and Expenses is the GAAP document that
shows all of the various sources of revenue, or income, listed individually and totaled on
one side. On the other side, the statement shows all of the expenses, again, listed
individually and totaled. The difference between these two totals is your excess of
revenue, or “bottom line.”
Total Revenue – Total Expenses = Excess of Revenue
For your nonprofit to have a positive bottom line, revenues must be greater than
expenses, usually referred to as a profit. When your activity is the other way around,
when expenses are greater than revenue, the bottom line is negative, usually referred to as
a loss.
$100,000 – $90,000 = $10,000 (positive number, or profit)
$100,000 – $110,000 = -$10,000 (negative number, or loss)
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(In the profit world, the excess of revenue represents the actual profit, which can be
divided up by the owners and stockholders. In the nonprofit world, we could technically
still use the term “profit,” but the excess must be used toward further progress of your
organization’s mission.)
Some other terms for the Statement of Revenue and Expenses are “Statement of
Activities” and “Profit and Loss Statement.”
Figure 9 shows a typical Statement of Activities for a nonprofit organization.
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
For the Period Ending May 31, 2012
2012
2012
Original
Budget
Amended
Budget
20,000
35,000
30,000
40,000
Government Grants
200,000
200,000
Foundation Grants
100,000
50,000
5,000
5,000
20,00
0
10,00
0
Corporate Grants
United
Way/Federated
Campaigns
150,000
200,000
5,000
20,000
15,000
2,000
50,000
15,000
5,000
100,000
10,000
5,000
3,000
REVENUE
Individual
Contributions
Memberships
Fundraising Events
Investment Income
In-Kind Support
Miscellaneous
Income
TOTAL
REVENUE
EXPENSES
Salaries, Taxes &
Benefits
Consultants &
Professional Fees
Insurance & Other
Taxes
Postage &
Shipping
Printing & Copying
Rent & Utilities
Staff Training
May
YearToDate
Percent
Year %
through
Complete
XXX
20,000
20,000
175,00
0
66.67%
50.00%
75%
75%
87.50%
75%
30,000
175,00
0
60.00%
75%
87.50%
75%
66.67%
75%
0
0
1,000
10,000
100,00
0
7,500
5,000
100.00%
0.00%
100.00%
75%
75%
75%
3,000
500
3,000
100.00%
75%
$653,000
$48,5
00
$545,5
00
83.54%
75%
$400,00
0
$400,000
$30,0
00
$350,0
00
87.50%
75%
20,000
30,000
0
20,000
66.67%
75%
20,000
20,000
2,500
17,500
87.50%
75%
15,000
15,000
50,000
2,500
20,000
20,000
50,000
2,500
2,500
1,000
5,000
0
17,500
15,000
45,000
2,500
87.50%
75.00%
90.00%
100.00%
75%
75%
75%
75%
$598,00
0
Figure 9. Sample Statement of Activities
Page 39
Program Budgets Vs. Organizational Budgets
Programs are the most visible and best understood aspects of most nonprofits and the
principle means of carrying out their missions. A program is a coherently packaged group
of activities designed to accomplish a stated result.
There can be many other terms for programs, such as projects, clinics, divisions,
departments or institutes, but essentially, a program is any organized group of services
provided to a particular population to meet a specific need.
For example, your nonprofit may offer a program designed to provide peer services to
people just being discharged from state psychiatric hospitals who need help finding
housing or outpatient services. Or your business may provide educational programs to
consumers on designing wellness and recovery action plans (WRAPs).
In most cases, nonprofits run several programs simultaneously, and funders grant awards
and contracts for specific programs whose budgets can be estimated upfront and whose
results can be evaluated as discrete sets of goals.
For this reason, you’ll probably develop budgets for individual programs, but you’ll also
prepare financial records for your organization as a whole.
Individual program budgets will describe the personnel needed to fill a program’s goals
within the specified timeframe of the grant or contract, along with other costs, such as
travel, food and beverage, site rentals, etc.
Organizational budgets, on the other hand, need to describe the entire financial picture of
the corporation. In a sense, you can think of the corporation as the business entity that
“owns,” or through which, all of the programs run.
In terms of financial management, the important thing to remember is that some budget
items may actually be shared by more than one program. For example, one full-time
employee may actually work half of his or her time in your peer services program and the
other half in your WRAP program.
Each program budget must show half of that salary going to each of the two programs.
But your corporate budget will simply show the entire cost of that employee.
In the same way, you may use a van to drive consumers to places in fulfilling the
activities of both your peer services and your WRAP programs. But neither program
budget can show the entire cost of the van as belonging to only one program. Each
program budget must show a portion of the costs of the van. Your overall corporate
budget would simply show the van as an asset belonging to the organization as a whole.
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As you think about financial management, realize that nonprofits usually function at both
levels: program and corporate. Your individual program budgets must show the
resources needed to fulfill a specific set of activities within a specified time frame for a
specific number of clients.
But your corporate financial documents, and the ones you traditionally share with your
board, your funders and in your annual report, are the snapshot of your entire business.
Software
If your nonprofit is just starting out, it’s conceivable that you can document and manage
your financial information using paper methods, such as your check registers and various
types of ledgers. But as your business grows, you’ll most likely benefit from software
tools designed specifically for nonprofits.
When considering the purchase of software, keep in mind that most general software
packages are designed to appeal to a wide audience with varying needs. Because the
software will accommodate many people, the manufacturer can usually charge a low
price for it and still make a sizeable profit.
On the other hand, tools designed for specific purposes, such as nonprofit accounting
software that helps manage program and corporate budgets, appeal to a smaller audience.
So the manufacturers usually must charge more for it. In these cases, you may be better
off paying the higher price because the software is more readily adaptable to your
organization’s financial management.
In addition to accounting software, many established nonprofits use software that
manages donations and contributions, which helps them with mailings and invitations to
special events. This type of software lets you keep track of how much each contributor
donated, within specific timeframes or to specific programs, so that you can target
various fundraising activities toward a specific segment of donors.
Many states have nonprofit development centers that offer various types of support to
501(c)(3)s. Check with your center for help in purchasing software that’s already
designed for a business like yours and, if possible, networking with organizations that are
currently using accounting and donor software packages.
Whenever you shop for software, look for vendors who offer upfront training as well as
ongoing support. Be sure to find out ahead of time whether these services will cost you
additional money or whether they’re worked into the selling price. In addition, make sure
it’s clear whether you’ll have to pay extra for software enhancements and annual licenses
or whether those updates will be available to you at no cost.
Page 41
Accrual Accounting vs. Cash Accounting
As you’ve learned about tracking incoming cash and revenue, it may have occurred to
you that it’s important at which point in time you count that income.
For example, if you count a contribution as income on the day you speak to a donor on
the phone and he or she makes a pledge, that would be different from counting the
income on the day you actually received the check.
Similarly, if you provided a service to a consumer according to a contract with your state
mental health administrator, it would matter whether you counted the amount coming in
on the day you provided the service or on the day you received the payment.
According to GAAP, these differing accounting methods are referred to as accrual
accounting and cash accounting. Generally speaking, the accrual method of accounting
is considered to provide a better and more accurate financial picture because it presents a
clearer picture of your activities, with the assumption that those activities will result in
realized income.
The accounting method essentially determines when, that is, in which accounting
period, a transaction is recorded.
In the first example above, we would say that you use the accrual method if you count the
donation on the day of the pledge, and you use the cash method if you count the donation
on the day you receive the actual cash.
In the second example, we would say that you use the accrual method if you count the
payment on the day you perform the service, and you use the cash method if you count
the payment on the day you receive it.
With the accrual method, you count revenues when they are earned, regardless of when
the cash is actually collected. Under the cash method, transactions are recorded only
when the cash is received.
Some nonprofits keep books according to the cash accounting method, so that they have a
clear picture of their true cash position, but they then also ask their auditors to convert the
information to the accrual method, so that their records comply with GAAP. Keep in
mind that auditors will charge for this extra work, but for all the reasons presented at the
beginning of this section, your financial records should be according to GAAP.
Page 42
REPORTING FINANCIAL INFORMATION
In previous sections of this guide, you’ve learned a lot about the principles of financial
management and accounting, with which you should guide your nonprofit business. By
learning and adhering to them, you’ll be able to successfully manage your activities, so
that your funding lets you fulfill your mission.
Doing so will also allow you to report financial information easily and consistently,
which you are legally obligated to do on a regular basis.
Your Board
Throughout this guide, we’ve assumed that, because your consumer business is relatively
new, your board and your executive staff work very closely together. So the preparation
of the financial documents we discuss in these guides is most likely something that your
board members are already working on. Nonetheless, most bylaws and state laws require
that you hold at least quarterly board meetings and that the agenda include, among other
topics, a thorough review of the financial health of the business.
In preparation for these meetings, you should primarily work with your treasurer, whose
major responsibility is to manage and report on the organization’s finances. Specifically,
he or she should report on the following, as of a specific date:

The status of all bank accounts

A review of all financial transactions

A review of the major financial documents
At the meetings, all board members are responsible for understanding the treasurer’s
report to the extent that they can sign off on the financial health of the business.
Remember that, contrary to many myths, your board is responsible for the accuracy of
your financial management.
Auditors
Most state and local governments require corporations that operate in their jurisdiction, or
that receive government dollars, to undergo some form of an audit, or significant review,
of your financial information from an outside, independent source. If your nonprofit
receives federal funding, then the federal government also requires an audit. Additionally,
most serious foundations and corporations ask for an independent auditor’s report as part
of a grant proposal to show the viability of your organization—from a financial point of
view.
In general, an auditor’s job is to meet with you, usually on an annual basis, to review all
of the records you’ve kept throughout the year that are the source for the financial
documents we’ve discussed in this guide. For example, an auditor may compare your
Page 43
credit card statements against all of your receipts to make sure that you have a record for
each purchase—and that the purchase made sense in relation to your mission. Or the
auditor may compare your bank statements to the records you have of deposits and
credits, again looking for complete and accurate accounting.
In most cases, the auditor’s report takes the form of an opinion letter, which is always
written in a standard format, so that readers can quickly see the auditor’s report. Figure
10 shows a sample, and very standard, Auditor’s Opinion Letter.
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Recovery, Inc. as of June 30, 2009,
and the related statements of public support, revenue and expenses and changes in fund
balances, statements of functional expenses and cash flows for the year then ended.
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about
whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes
examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial
statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our
opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of Recovery, Inc. as of June 30, 2007, and the results of its
operations and cash flows for the year then ended in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles.
Figure 10. Sample Auditor’s Opinion Letter
Auditors can perform one of three types of audits: 1) compilation, 2) review and 3) audit.
Although compilations and reviews are less expensive and less rigorous than full audits,
most nonprofits undergo complete audits because they are the only level that ensures that
your financial information conforms to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
(GAAP). One of the singlemost important things an auditor looks for is whether your
business follows GAAP, and, if it doesn’t, the opinion letter must include an explanation
of why your organization does not. This statement can sometimes make a funder or a
government question the financial viability of your business, so most nonprofits use
GAAP and ask auditors to complete full audits every year.
You can imagine that an audit takes up valuable staff time, and auditors do charge a fee,
so you must plan for both the time and money to accomplish it.
Page 44
Funders
As we’ve discussed, most funding sources require financial information as part of a
grant proposal or as an application for a contract. Obviously, these entities are looking
for stable, well managed organizations, so they’ll typically ask for information about your
budget and your auditor’s report. If you can’t provide them, they may assume that you’re
not ready for the financial investment they’re willing to fund.
Federal Government
The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires a Form 990, Return of
Organization Exempt from Income Tax, each year from most nonprofit organizations
that have established that they are tax exempt. (Our technical assistance guide, “How to
Establish a 501(c)(3)” explains the steps required to obtain tax-free status.)
The Form 990 provides information on the mission, program and finances of your
organization, and most nonprofits with annual incomes greater than $25,000 must file one
each year. (Private foundations do not have to file Form 990s, nor do faith-based
organizations or subsidiary organizations.)
The first year your organization obtains tax-exempt status, the IRS will automatically
send you a Form 990. Even if you haven’t yet reached an annual income of $25,000, it’s
a good idea to fill out the top of the form and return it. This will result in the IRS sending
you a form each year, so that you’ll remember to fulfill this reporting requirement when
your income grows. It will also result in the IRS discontinuing repeated, computergenerated requests for you to return your form.
Visit www.irs.gov/charities to review the most recent version of Form 990.
State Government
Many states have a regulatory agency, often in the Secretary of State, Treasurer or
Attorney General’s office that requires annual registration by nonprofit organizations. In
many cases, the state will accept the IRS Form 990, rather than requesting a separate
form. Check with those specific departments in your state government, or with the
department with which you established your tax-exempt status, to learn the state-level
reporting requirements you must fulfill.
The Public: The Annual Report
Very often, nonprofit businesses do not have marketing budgets that allow them to
publish and disseminate brochures and other materials with which to advertise their
organizations. Instead, many choose to publish an Annual Report that contains
information that helps the public understand their mission, their services and their overall
value to the community.
Page 45
An annual report is not a legal or financial requirement, but many nonprofits use them as
vehicles to give up-to-date snapshots to potential donors, funders and clients. As their
name implies, they typically highlight the last full budget year and are produced annually.
Depending on your budget, you can choose to create a simple, inexpensive report that
summarizes your business, or you can choose to produce professional-quality materials
that include photos, graphics and other visual enhancements. When you make this
decision, keep in mind that the public also pays attention to a nonprofit’s use of scarce
resources, so think about how much money you want to invest in relation to your overall
budget.
The Annual Report is typically designed to highlight the successes of your organization
while also revealing your ability to accomplish a lot within a typical nonprofit budget. So
they usually contain financial information, such as your Balance Sheet for the last full
year, as well as your Statement of Revenues and Expenses and sometimes your auditor’s
opinion letter.
In addition, consider the following components of an annual report that will help your
reader understand your whole story in an organized, appealing way:

Letter from your Board President and Executive Director

Your mission, values, goals

Short history

Board of Directors for the year in question

Staff (especially volunteers you want to recognize)

Summary of major accomplishments

Funders (Government, Foundation and Corporate)

Contributors (Individual Donors)

Community Partners

Membership

Events you’ve hosted
Page 46
Notice how many of the components of an Annual Report are identical to the required
components of a grant proposal. One of the major reasons to produce an Annual Report
is that you’ll already have much of those items organized when you learn about a Request
for Proposals. Conversely, much of what you’ll pull together for a grant proposal can,
and should, also go in your Annual Report.
All in all, an Annual Report should make a potential donor feel that he or she is
contributing to a valued business in the community, should make a potential funder feel
that it is investing in a well run business, should help your staff and volunteers
understand their contribution to your nonprofit’s mission and, finally, should make you
and your board feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment and success in providing
quality, recovery-oriented, consumer-run services to people with mental illness in your
state.
Page 47
GLOSSARY
Accounting principles – The guidelines an organization follows in the measurement,
classification and interpretation of its financial information
Accounting system – The structure of records and procedures that record, classify,
summarize and report information on the financial position and results of the operations
an organization
Accounts payable – Money owed to creditors from whom the organization has
purchased goods or services
Accounts receivable – Money due from someone for goods or services provided; a
pledge to contribute a specific amount of money in the future
Accrual basis of accounting – The basis of accounting under which transactions are
recognized when they occur
Annual report – Information provided annually by the board of directors of an
organization about operations. It usually includes financial statements.
Asset – Any physical object owned or intangible right having an economic value to its
owner
Audit – A systematic investigation by a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) of
procedures or operations for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the fairness of an
organization’s financial statements
Audit trail – The ability to trace each transaction forward from the source documentation
through all journals and ledgers to the summary statements and financial reports, or the
reverse
Balance sheet – The financial statement that shows the financial position of an
organization by listing its assets, liabilities and fund balances at a specific date
Budget – A plan of financial operations that includes an estimate of proposed
expenditures for a given period and the proposed means of financing them
CPA – Certified Public Accountant
Capital additions or expenditures – Fixed assets such as land, buildings or equipment
purchased or donated
Capital gain or loss – Profit or loss resulting from the sale of an investment
Cash basis of accounting – The basis of accounting under which transactions are
recognized when cash changes hands
Page 48
Cash flow – The increase or decrease in an organization’s cash during a period of time
Cost – The amount of expenditure to obtain goods
Current asset – An asset that is available or can be made readily available, usually
within one year, to finance current operations or to pay current liabilities
Current liability – A liability that is payable within one year
Deferred income – Income received or recorded before it is earned
Deficit – An excess of expenses over revenues over a measured period of time
Disbursement – A payment in cash
Expenditure – A disbursement for any purpose
Expense – A cost, within a measure period of time, incurred to operate an organization
Financial statements – The means by which the information accumulated in the
financial accounting system is periodically communicated to those who use it
Fiscal year – The year covered by the annual financial statements
Fixed asset – A tangible, long-term asset held for use rather than for sale. Examples are
land, buildings, machinery and equipment
General ledger – a book, file or other device that contains all the asset, liability, revenue
and support, and expense accounts of an organization
Inventory – Items held for sale
Investment – An expenditure to acquire an asset or an asset that yields, or is expected to
yield, income
Invoice – a bill for goods or services rendered
Journal – A book of financial transactions. Examples are the cash receipts journal, cash
disbursements journal or the general journal.
Liability – Debts or obligations owed by an organization
Long-term liability – Debts or obligations owed, but that are due, in more than one year
Overhead – Expenses that apply to the whole organization and not to specific activities
Page 49
Petty cash – A relatively small amount of cash kept on hand to meet minor
disbursements
Prepaid expense – An expense paid in advance of the period that it will benefit, such as
insurance or rent
Restricted funds – Funds received by an organization that can be used only for the
specific purpose indicated by the donor
Unrestricted funds – Funds that are available for any purpose appropriate to the
organization and approved by the board of directors
Page 50
SOURCES
American Society of Association Executives
 Annual Reports, March, 2006
 Legal Forms and Models, March, 2006
 Orientation and Reporting Tools, May, 2006
 Policies and Procedures, March, 2006
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
 “Peer Support Services in Medicaid,” Draft Guidance to States, 2006
Dalsimer, John Paul. Self-Help Accounting: A Guide for the Volunteer Treasurer.
Energize Books, 1989
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
Edwards, Richard and Benefield, Elizabeth. Building a Strong Foundation: Fundraising
for Nonprofits. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers, 1997
Foundation Center
 Research Studies: National Trends
Hall, Mary, Ph.D. and Howlett, Susan. Getting Funded: The Complete Guide to Writing
Grant Proposals, 4th Edition. Portland, OR: Portland University Press, Continuing
Education Press, 2003
Jackson, Peggy, DPA, CPCU and Fogarty, Toni, PhD, MPH. Sarbanes Oxley for
Nonprofits: A Guide to Building Competitive Advantage. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley
&Sons, 2005
Lewis, Robert L. Effective Nonprofit Management. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen
Publishers, 2001
McLaughlin, Thomas A. Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, 2nd Edition. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002
Mental Health America
 Fiscal and Legal Responsibilities for Mental Health America Affiliates, 2007
Merrill Lynch Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Management
 “Nonprofit News”
Page 51
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center
 Fundraising Basics
 Guide to Proposal Writing
 How to Establish a 501(c)(3)
On Our Own of Maryland
 Materials from Nonprofit Business Management Conference, 2004
Ruppel, Warren. Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
2002
Vermont Psychiatric Survivors
 Materials for Financial Management, 2003
Page 52
APPENDIX
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Center
Center for Mental Health Services
Consumer-Run Technical Assistance Centers
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
Peers Helping Peers
730 N. Franklin Street, Suite 501
Chicago, IL 60654
800-826-3632
www.peershelpingpeers.org
Mental Health America
National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center
2000 N. Beauregard Street, 6th Floor
Alexandria, VA 22311
800-969-6642
www.ncstac.org
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
STAR Center
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-3042
866-537-STAR (7827)
www.nami.org
National Empowerment Center
599 Canal Street
Lawrence, MA 01840
800-769-3728
www.power2u.org
The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse
1211 Chestnut Street, Suite 1100
Philadelphia, PA 19107
800-553-4539
www.mhselfhelp.org