Although it is a voluntary position, being a treasurer for a not-for-profit organisation may be a challenging experience, especially if you are not prepared. There are many activities a volunteer treasurer (VT) needs to participate in, and even more processes they should monitor and control. Therefore, if you are or want to be a volunteer treasurer, it is worth taking the effort to train yourself for the job. Similarly, if you are about to take on board a treasurer for your NFP organisation, you should make sure that they are ready for this responsibility.
Fortunately, nowadays it is not too hard to find appropriate resources and train on your own – the Internet is full of materials that can help volunteer treasurers with their undertakings. A good place to start is Davidson Institute, a financial education institution part of the Westpac network. The Institute provides a lot of resources that will prove helpful for VTs. Once you get on their website, you can either visit the Learning Centre, which is divided into categories for Business, Personal, Not-for-Profit and Corporate visitors, or you can check out the courses page and browse through similar categories.
At present, there is one active short course appropriate for Not-for-Profit VTs, with more undoubtedly to follow. Meanwhile, you can take the 1-day Financial Management 101 for Not-for-Profit & Community Organisations, which will help you understand the financial management tools you will need in order to be successful in your position of treasurer and improve the NFP’s financial performance. You can check out the course details here.
In the learning centre, you can find many free resources that will improve your financial knowledge and prepare you for the role of the treasurer. There is a separate section Managing Money for Not-for-Profits, where you can read articles on different topics by experienced treasurers and financial managers or participate in the free webinars. There are also other resources that you can check out, like the Cause and Effect Newsletter.
All these resources provided by Davidson Institute can help volunteer treasurers find new sources of funding for their NFP organisations, increase the financial stability and processes and implement good financial practices. If you are anxious about your financial literacy, you could find help with the interpretation of financial statements, the building of cash flow budget and the planning and managing of seasonality. You can also learn how to understand the financial impact of growth, diagnose financial problems and deal with them, and many more. In other words, the resources on this website are a real treasure for treasurers – make sure you check them out and improve yourself!
