Financial strategy - top tips

1. Ensure you are getting full cost recovery on all your contracts - if you aren’t, make sure you understand why you’re subsidising contracts. See the full cost recovery website for more information.
2. Make sure your spare cash is working hard for you - there are safe places to keep money on short term deposit, so find a properly accredited institution and avoid your cash being idle. 
3. Keep your costs under control - look at insurance costs, professional fees, contracts, photocopying, telephone, heat-light and power (make sure staff are working not surfing!). 
4. Avoid short term solutions that might cause long term damage - keep a longer term view even though the short term is pressing. 
5. Be smart and look at what is core versus satellite - focus on your Mission and take an opportunity to either cull what is satellite or see it as an opportunity to collaborate and share costs. 
6. Consider outsourcing back office functions - the Charity Business website (amongst others) will point you in the right direction.
7. Consider using consultants rather than dealing with certain services in-house - maybe you could send people on external training rather than provide it yourself.  Maybe you could sell your training courses to other charities.....
8. Be tax efficient - are you maximising Gift Aid?  Are you doing proper VAT reviews on irrecoverable VAT?  The Good Financial Management Guide has a detailed chapter on tax.  Or your Auditors may do a no fee VAT review (for a percentage of what they recover). 
9. Don’t panic about investments - all the evidence suggests there will be a bounce.  Successful investors are those who stay in the market.
10. Be a bold buccaneer! If you’ve got fixed assets (e.g. property) it might be a good time to borrow to create new opportunities.  Take a long term view and borrow against guaranteed future income flows or buy equities.  There are opportunities out there….

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