Once upon a time in the land of COVID-19, there was an Executive Director who had to decide whether to apply for funds through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP).
Primarily, PPP funding offers small businesses and nonprofits a certain number of weeks of payroll as a loan (that may end up being forgiven by the government). It’s been invaluable in the nonprofit sector and has kept many doors open.
This E.D. has a large budget and no cash flow problems. In fact, the organization has a cash reserve. A gift from a family foundation for a sizable amount seems very promising.
But who knows what to expect? A fall gala projected to generate substantive revenue is in question. Like all nonprofits, there is so much uncertainty.
You may already have decided this org should NOT have applied for PPP funding. But there’s more to this story. And I’ll get into that in just a moment.
First, here’s what I want you to do.
Send this post to your board members as a pre-read for an upcoming board meeting. Ask everyone to be prepared to discuss. What would they do? Why? This will become incredibly instructive for your board about how decisions are getting made.
Alternatively, use this as a centerpiece of a leadership team meeting to dig into the role of the team in decision making.
OK, with that, let’s get into the full story…
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