The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has a clever advertising campaign www.feedthepig.org to encourage saving among consumers. (Feed the pig being your piggy bank). You do not have to look far to see the detrimental impact of America’s spending habits on the economy.
How do we save? Simple, spend less than you make. The same seemingly simple philosophy applies to nonprofits too. No matter how great the need, how successful the program—you need to live within your means. You cannot start a new program based on what you think donors might give to you once they see the success of the new program if you don’t have money saved to kick off the new program. You can’t keep running a program when funding was cut for the program three years ago and no new sources of funds have been developed. Nonprofits that are successful for the long run have learned that you can’t spend what you don’t have.
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2 comments:
I agree with you re the laudable intentions of the campaign, but I have trouble with 1) the execution, in that aren't I 'being a pig' when I spend or consume too much (so the piggy-bank metaphor gets a little strained), and 2) what an unlucky bit of timing, as we have a President advising us to spend MORE -- even a Congress looking to send checks to us so we can go buy things -- which runs 180 degrees contrary to AICPA's message.
Anyway, interesting stuff, and I've written a bit more about it at DIM BULB if you'd like to check it out:
http://dimbulb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/feed-the-pig.html
Jonathan, Great input on the feed the pig site at DIM BULB, especially the practical ways the AICPA could have gotten people involved. It is frustrating that the temporary fix for the economy that is currently being pursued is more spending. Especially when excess spending (and excess lending) is some of what got us into this situation.
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