This course equips students with the financial literacy and management skills necessary to lead effective social impact organizations and initiatives. Students will learn to prepare, read, and interpret financial statements at both programmatic and organizational levels. The course examines diverse revenue strategies, including grant funding, earned income, and investment approaches, as well as budget development and financial modeling techniques. Through practical application, students develop the confidence to make sound financial decisions and engage meaningfully with financial information in their social impact work.
Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Prepare and analyze financial statements for social impact organizations, applying principles of both financial and managerial accounting to inform strategic decision-making at program, organizational, and portfolio levels.
- Develop revenue strategies that ensure financial sustainability, including analysis of revenue diversity, grant funding cycles, earned income models, social investment opportunities, and endowment or reserve policies.
- Design and model budgets and financial scenarios for programs, units, and organizations using appropriate tools, including multi-year projections, contingency planning, variance analysis, and sensitivity testing.
- Assess financial health and organizational capacity across multiple levels (program, department, organization, coalition, regional initiative) using metrics such as liquidity, solvency, efficiency ratios, and mission return on investment.
- Apply fiscal policies and management principles to guide resource allocation decisions, including cost-benefit analysis, program valuation, indirect cost recovery, and capital investment planning.
- Apply strategic financial decisions that balance mission effectiveness, fiscal responsibility, equity considerations, and long-term sustainability across diverse organizational and community contexts.