Staying Ahead of the Curve

The Center for a New American Dream, like so many other non-profits, faces some stressful financial uncertainty as volatile markets and talk of total financial meltdown dominate the public discourse.  At the same time, we have a unique combination of expertise that has helps us adapt to this changing economic climate. New Dream employs a number of thoughtful strategies here in our Maryland office to cut costs and green our operations.

For our friends running mission based non-profits and values-driven companies, we want to share what New Dream has done to trim costs while staying ahead of the curve:

  1. Audit all costs: Look at IT hosting, phone, long distance, auditing, conference calls and monthly services.  You might have seen monthly billing systems on an upswing over the past few years. Organizations have been a key target for companies that love fixed billing systems (guaranteed revenue).  You might find significant savings by eliminating services you don’t need or bundling services you absolutely need.
  2. Think before printing:  Consider offering publications, newsletters and other materials as downloadable pdf’s to save printing costs and the planet.
  3. Outsource some admin functions:  Consider outsourcing payroll and accounting if it frees up critical time for program work. These services can be quite cost effective and you don’t need to pay payroll taxes and other benefits for consultants.
  4. When you travel, bundle trips:  When we make necessary trips, we consider regional meetings and bundle them so we can save on travel expenses and get the most from our time away from the office.
  5. Take advantage of conference calls and webinars:  While you can never replace the value of an in-person meeting – consider replacing some trips with more frequent calls and webinars to cut down on travel costs and carbon emissions.
  6. Evaluate benefits:  It might be possible to offer better benefits for few dollars.  Shopping out health care and life insurance policies using a no-cost broker may save money and time if they help administer plans.
  7. Swap advertising:  Instead of paying for ad buys cut back and promote blog swaps and banner ad exchanges. It won’t account for all your traffic but might trim promotional expenses and help promote lasting mission-based partnerships.
  8. Share expenses with sister organizations:  If you are running new programs, cut costs by sharing some expenses with organizations that are well aligned. 
  9. Think potluck, not catering:  Instead of catering lunches, invite staff to bring their favorite dish. Increase the sense of community in your office and share creative local and organic foods.
  10. Involve the entire staff!  Having staff buy-in is critical.  Encourage everyone to get involved in expense management and office greening.

By making these changes, your organization will have more funds available for mission-based work and greater staff investment and morale.  If you are a small business owner or non-profit manager, please send in your ideas and thoughts.  We would love to hear them.  We’re all doing great work, and we’re in it together!

Read about our 2004-2006 Green Office Renovation.