Fraternal headquarters staff have been working around the clock to serve their members, volunteers, and employees during the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Health and safety has been the priority, along with wrapping up the current semester’s finances, so that chapters are poised to return in the fall.
North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) President and CEO, Judson Horras, hosted a Financial Operations Discussion for insight on navigating chapter finances during COVID-19 and beyond.
In Part I, Billhighway | greekbill President, Tom Bomberski, emphasized the importance of proper cash management and fraud monitoring in the immediate response to campus activities coming to a halt.
In this post, we will shift our focus forward to the fall semester and how to plan for uncertainty. With so much still up in the air regarding campus activities this fall, you should focus on what you can plan for right now.
PLANNING FOR FALL
It’s difficult to put together your financial plan for fall without knowing what the future holds. A good method is to plan out three scenarios that chapters can pivot to depending on the circumstances come fall. Take your current plan for the fall and outline the following three scenarios:
- Scenario A: This is the best case scenario. Here you look at fall returning to a standard plan minus 10%.
- Scenario B: In this case, your chapters would be taking a harder hit of a standard plan with a 25% decrease in revenue.
- Scenario C: This is the worst case scenario. Here your chapters won’t go back to normal operations in any way this fall.
It isn’t fun to have to plan out any of these scenarios, but doing so will allow you to be agile should a change in the standard plan be needed. Once you have it mapped out, start managing to the middle ground, Scenario B, now.
Ask yourself, from a cash management perspective, what moves do you need to make today to sustain through that period? If it looks like you would need to have access to a line of credit, should you start looking into that now?
As part of your planning efforts, also keep your eye on the governmental programs that are coming up. There are several, like the CARES Act and SBA Disaster Loans, that could help you sustain through the middle ground scenario in the fall.
Planning to multiple outcomes and reviewing budgets will be an essential part of your organization’s COVID-19 strategy. Billhighway | greekbill will continue to monitor and share information to help you navigate chapter finances during COVID-19.
