Accounting for Equity: Expressing Your Values in the Language of Finance

Accounting for Equity: Expressing Your Values in the Language of Finance

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

10:00am - 11:30am CST

ZOOM Webinar: $50

About this session: Many nonprofits have stated equity (across race, gender, abilities, etc.) as a goal, a set of values, and as a strategic framework for their organizations. But do their financials bear out those commitments? Nonprofit financial statements, and the decisions represented in those statements, shed light on the true priorities of organizations. How budgets are created and what is included in them tells us what an organization believes is most important. How an organization designs its reserves and where it invests those reserves can reveal its focus on equity. Vendor selection practices show whether an organization is aligning its spending with its values. Join us in a practical look at how a nonprofit’s commitment to equity shows up (or could) in its financial decisions and financial practices. We’ll cover budgeting, investing, vendor selection, personnel policies, and more. Please come prepared to share your experience.

Learning Objectives:
1. Explore how equity surfaces in nonprofit financial decisions.
2. Examples of equity expressed in organization practices and policies.
3. Rethink budgeting, compensation, investing, and selecting vendors.

Who Should Participate:   Executive Directors, Finance Officers, Management Staff, Board Members

About the Presenters:  Luciano Patiño – co-Founder and co-CEO, Shétu Rose - co-Founder and co-CEO, Curtis Klotz, CPA - co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Diverge Finance Cooperative

Luciano Patiño – co-Founder and co-CEO

An avowed finance and operations geek, Luciano Patiño is the co-founder and co-CEO at Diverge Finance. He started his career working at NorthstarMLS, helping Realtors make the best possible use of the tech tools at their disposal. Since then, he has worked with several nonprofits, all with different business models, on their technology and financial infrastructure. As a consultant, Luciano leads workshops on cultural competency, using the Intercultural Development Inventory and other tools. He is the recipient of the Moxie Award for Community Leadership from PFund Foundation and is a former Humphrey Policy Fellow. In his free time, he can be found working out at his CrossFit gym, staging at local restaurants or playing video games.

Shétu Rose - co-Founder and co-CEO

Shétu Rose is a co-founder and co-CEO at Diverge Finance Cooperative with over 18 years of financial management experience. Over the years she has led and supported administrative and strategic management teams for local and international organizations in the non-profit sector. Prior to Diverge, Shétu was the VP of Finance and Operations at the Center for Economic Inclusion and the Director of Finance at AchieveMpls. She also has a wealth of international experience, having worked in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. She is a passionate advocate for equity and human rights and is committed to bringing about sustainable economic change for families and communities. She serves on the Board of The Cedar Cultural Center and One Village Partners in Minnesota. Shétu lives in the Twin Cities metro with her husband and daughter.

Curtis Klotz, CPA - co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer

Curtis Klotz, CPA, is a co-founder and Chief Learning Officer at Diverge Finance Cooperative. Diverge is a worker-owned cooperative that champions racial equity by advancing the leadership of persons of color in the finance and accounting field. As a presenter, Curt shares business model strategies for nonprofits and a commitment to equity in financial leadership that have emerged from nearly 40 years of direct work in nonprofit organizations. Prior to founding Diverge, Curt held roles as Director of Nonprofit Innovation at CLA, VP of Finance & CFO at Propel Nonprofits, and Director of Finance and Administration at Indian Law Resource Center. He was also a founding board member and past Chairperson of the Montana Nonprofit Association. Curt has contributed articles to Nonprofit Quarterly, various CPA journals, and was the principal author of CLA’s Innovation in Nonprofit Finance blog.