Here comes the auditors

We’ll have guests in the office next Monday when our annual audit begins.  Actually, it began months ago, but  as of the last few minutes our financial staff is finally finished preparing the first round of reports, lists, schedules for our visitors.  I frankly look forward to having a fresh set of eyes on our work. 

Annual audits are required by National Standards for US Community Foundations for all but the smallest of foundations.  Audits are included in virtually every set of nonprofit standards and best practices I’ve seen.  As a public charity, I believe we have a responsibility to validate the trust we as of our donors, grantees and community.  Transparency is critical, and like any good nonprofit, we do our best to display our practices and decisions for our stakeholders.  But there is nothing quite like a clean audit as a demonstration of good accounting and illuminate financial sustainability.

Yea I am kind of looking forward to our annual checkup.  Of course it makes it a lot easier being part of a well oiled machine like the Community Foundation and having such a strong and capable staff.

Patience and Persistence

The Community Foundation purchased a new office building and many of our friends have been asking –when? Our original move in date of June has became July, then August and now probably closer to September. This isn’t surprising to any of you who have built a house or engaged in serious remodeling. We’re making good progress, but this takes time if you want to do it right. Bingo!

We’ve all seen the consequences of rushing something, whether it’s having to scrape dried paint off a window because we didn’t want to take the time to tape, eating an unappetizing meal because instructions were ignored, or the implications of hastily drafted legislation like the nonprofit provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Sometimes we just have to take things at their natural pace.

I’ve often remarked that the most important feature of a community foundation (and foundations in general) is their ability to be patient and persistent. Certain things take time and we’re seeing a great example with the Fund for our Economic Future. The pace of activities within the Fund is anything but slow, but it’s going to take a long time to change a culture as engrained as ours in NE Ohio. We have to remember the same with our grantees. Sometimes we expect impact too quickly, forgetting that a decision to fund doesn’t automatically result in 100% productivity the moment they get our check.

I’d love to be in my new office tomorrow, but that can’t be rushed. I’ll have to be satisfied with progress and milestones like our new signage that should be done by the end of May. And whe we’re settled, I’m confident that we’ll be glad that we did things right.