Strategic Financial Advisory

Financial systems and planning, digital optimization

Consulting Services

Young Associates offers strategic consulting services to organizations in the arts, charity and non-profit sectors in several core areas, including:

  • Strategic financial planning and analysis (longitudinal study of financial trends as a basis for planning)
  • Strategic or business plan development (including environmental scans – external and internal – goal setting, strategy development, resource identification)
  • Development of succession strategy for organizations, their Boards and senior staff

  • Governance review and development for Boards and Committees (by-law revision, policy development, board handbook creation)
  • Development and facilitation of board retreats

  • Migrating to / optimizing the use of digital platforms to support business processes (accounting, data management, records management)
  • Cultivation of appropriate financial, operational/administrative and promotion systems to adequately support programming, marketing and fundraising activities

Digital Strategies

Well-managed data and digital tools increase your organization’s efficiency and capacity to turn information into knowledge, as well as the potential to make informed administrative decisions based on quantitative data. They also reduce administrative burden, freeing you up to do the work that helps your organization achieve its mandate.

Our team can help your organization articulate and achieve its digital goals. By developing a tailored information system to collect, store and analyze data, we can help you better understand your stakeholders’ specific needs.

Our digital strategy services are focused on:

Digital Systems & Infrastructure

  • Helping to select and optimize software applications and integrations
  • Identifying information pathways through your organization
  • Optimizing information architecture in your internal and public-facing information systems (e.g. databases, websites)
  • Designing a digital policies and procedures manual specific to your organization

Data Management & Reporting

  • Assuming key data processing duties (e.g. donations, tax receipting, etc.)
  • Maintaining statistical reporting for CADAC
  • Identifying information overlaps and reducing the duplication of work
  • Preserving data to ensure organizational continuity

Fundraising & Organizational Growth

  • Leveraging data to identify areas of fundraising and audience growth
  • Identifying untapped external resources that align with your organization’s mandate
  • Providing the tools that empower you to focus on strategic revenue generation

Turn Your Data Into Insight

Full-service data entry and processing

Our team provides practical database management and fundraising support services designed to help organizations maintain accurate information, strengthen internal processes and identify new opportunities for growth.

We actively manage your basic database needs, including:

  • Regular data entry
  • Pulling basic reports
  • Processing tax receipts and other stakeholder records
  • Performing mail merges and e-blasts

We provide ongoing support to help integrate your database(s) into organizational management activities, including:

  • Pulling and reviewing monthly reports
  • Data quality verification
  • Reconciliation with accounting software
  • Set up of new structural updates to your database
  • Components of full-service data entry and processing, as required
  • Prospect research

We provide research and analysis support to help identify fundraising opportunities and funding prospects, including:

  • Identifying donor and funder prospects whose values align with your mandate or specific project
  • Identifying donor trends and emerging funding opportunities
  • Creating in-depth donor and funder profiles

Need funding?

Young Associates delivers digital strategy services with funding from the Ontario Arts Council Compass program and the Canada Council’s Leadership for Change (formerly Flying Squad) program.

Training and projects

We provide one-on-one coaching and mentoring as well as group instruction. Training can be delivered, remotely, onsite at your office, or in our seminar room.

We provide core skills training (e.g. how to use software; how to develop policies and procedures for data collection, entry, and upkeep; how to clean a messy database) as well as instruction that outlines tactics to optimize your digital tools and information (e.g. data mining, pulling informative reports, prospect research techniques and establishing a formal policy framework for data management).

Our training sessions empower senior managers and boards to collaborate with staff to align organizational and portfolio-specific goals with data processes.

We do it by helping leaders:

  • Select appropriate software for organizational activities (e.g. fundraising, membership, ecommerce) and optimize integrations
  • Establish sound data collection, entry and review procedures
  • Design efficient reporting systems to support revenue generation and audience development
  • Identify fundraising prospects through analytical techniques
  • Design records management systems
  • Model ideal information architecture to optimize user experience
  • Design data flow visualizations to assist in understanding an organization’s information environment

Insights

  • Young Associates new brandmark/logo for website
    Young Associates

    Introducing a refreshed brand and website for Young Associates

  • Volunteers discussing the CRA policy change for charity change of purpose and activities
    Tax & Law

    CRA ends pre-approval process for changes to charitable purposes

  • Bookkeeping professional speaking to her clients during a meeting
    Bookkeeping

    How charities and not-for-profits can optimize their bookkeeping partnership