Approving financial strategies, business plans, and budgets is a major task of a board. It is a task, however, that is difficult to do effectively. Scarce board time needs to be focused on key strategic and operational components, yet board reviews of strategies. plans, and budgets can easily become caught up in secondary issues.

How we help
Critical outside evaluation of your underlying business plan and strategy can be enormously helpful to wise decision-making. We are experienced in reviewing business plans and strategies for organizations in the public, private, nonprofit, and higher education sectors. Click on this link for how we can help you to validate your confidence in your current or proposed business plan, pro forma, or business strategy.

For nonprofit organizations and universities we can help you to execute a mission-focused budget process using tools that effectively utilize the board's strategic strengths and the staff's operational knowledge. We have over twenty years of experience in developing budgets that are effective tools to link money to mission, mission to action, and action to accomplishment. We can introduce you to approaches to budget preparation that encourage ideas from staff and foster dialogue across the organization about how to make the most progress in your goals from the resources that are available. We can show you effective approaches that allow the board to focus its time and attention on a long-term perspective, broad organizational goals, and the intended results and outcomes.

A budget can also be a major tool for communicating priorities and goals to employees, donors, and other important constituencies. We can help you to use your budget and budget process to communicate effectively to stakeholders. We can also help you to make sure that your budget process energizes staff by giving them ownership and excitement in the allocation of resources.

If you have a major vision, our experience in the public and nonprofit sector can help you to devise and execute an effective strategy to bring your vision to fruition.

We provide a range of services that are committed to bringing best practices into the board room and making finances understandable. Click on this link to see our clients describe how we have helped.

For other ideas on how to effectively utilize your board, please click on the links above for Seminars & Workshops and Resources & Publications.

The Role of Allen Proctor Consulting
As Allen Proctor Consulting works with organizations to evaluate financial condition, identify options and strategies, and build reporting and decision-making structures, it cannot and should not take the place of an engaged board or full-time financial staff. Rather, Allen Proctor Consulting provides the strategy for a sustainable financial future, readies the board and management to undertake the strategy, and "coaches" those responsible for implementing the strategy. The ultimate success of any financial strategy will depend upon effective communication of the goals and justification for your strategy with donors, staff, clients and patrons, and especially the media.