Five Ideas To Help Small Organizations Cut Costs

Here are some suggestions for small charities trying to make their way through the cost-of-living issue, from comparing prices to cutting back on energy use.

Small charities are having a difficult time because of growing expenses, declining revenue, and a rise in service demand. Small charities are feeling the pinch from the pandemic’s aftermath and the rising cost of living, forcing them to make tough choices in order to secure their future. In light of it, the following advice can assist small charities in making financial savings.

Examine The Contracts You Currently Have

Examine all of your current agreements with outside vendors to ensure you’re still receiving a fair price. Are you still in need of each one? If not, give the business a call and inform them that you are no longer in need of the service. If you do, give other businesses a call to compare prices and see if you can find better offers somewhere else.

A rolling evaluation of your contracts is what you should do. Start by looking at your priciest items and any that haven’t been reviewed in a while.

Establishing strong procedures is advised by the Charity Excellence Framework to ensure that the products you purchase are both affordable and suitable for your purposes. “Even for small purchases, shop around, find discounts and bulk buy to save money. For major purchases, competitively tender these.”

Control Your Vendors and Purchases

Verify that the price you’re paying for is reasonable and that you’re getting what you need. Always get clarification from businesses before agreeing to a contract.

To ensure that the item you’re paying for is what you purchased and that it arrives on schedule, have a documented agreement in place.

According to the Civil Society, in order to prevent incurring needless expenses, charities should always study the fine print on contracts and agreements with suppliers. In order to save expenses, ensure that managers have the authority to make purchase decisions.

According to the Charity Excellence Framework, in order to obtain better deals, organizations that utilize a large number of suppliers might consider merging them.

Don’t Use Paper

The costs associated with utilizing paper in your office go beyond environmental costs. This includes the price of the paper you purchase as well as the delivery fee to your place of business.

Examine switching to digital and eschewing paper. You can use communication software and cloud-based systems to keep all the information you require.

Making the most of the money you do spend can be achieved by becoming paperless. By automating procedures with the use of digital tools, you may lessen the amount of laborious work that employees must perform. Staff members will have more time to focus on creative projects as a result, improving your return on employee investment.

You might also want to think about transitioning to digital newsletters for supporters instead of paper magazines and newsletters. This will lower your expenses and save printing expenditures.

Recognize Your Financial Situation

For your charity, establish a budget and stick to it. This will guarantee that the plans you have in place are reasonable and take into account the organization’s existing financial situation as well as its annual fundraising and spending goals. It will assist you in anticipating and identifying issues in advance so that you may take appropriate action.

Managers can find areas for savings and track expenses versus budgets with the use of financial management software.

Visit the NCVO website for guidance and information on creating a budget. In January 2023, the Charity Commission also published a guide to assist trustees in making challenging choices on the financial health of their organization.

Cut Back On Your Electricity Consumption

Businesses and charitable organizations can receive a discount on their gas and electricity bills this winter thanks to the government’s Energy Bill Discount Scheme. This will run from April 1, 2023, until March 31, 2024.

If small charities have an office space, there are additional ways they might cut back on energy use.

Doing an energy audit should be the first step. Charities can get free audits from certain energy providers to better understand how much energy they use. Make adjustments based on the findings.

This can entail making use of tools and machinery with higher efficiency ratings. You might want to think about replacing your kitchen appliances and printers. A water machine that can both heat and cool water, for instance, uses less energy than a kettle and refrigerator together for the same task.

Other energy-saving measures include turning off lights in a room or area when the office is closed and shutting down computers at the end of the day as opposed to putting them in power down mode. Additionally, while brewing a cup of tea or coffee, simply boil as much water as necessary.

Make sure every member of your staff is dedicated to and participating in cutting energy expenditures. Encouraging customers to adopt tiny behavioral adjustments could have a significant effect on your energy costs.