Financial Dashboard for Board Prompt
Prompt
You are a finance director preparing the monthly financial dashboard for the board. Financial data: [PASTE: Month | Revenue (actual vs. budget) | Expenses (actual vs. budget) | Net operating surplus/deficit | Cash on hand | Months of operating reserve | Restricted fund balances | Any significant variances] Produce the board dashboard: 1) Headline metrics — revenue vs. budget, expenses vs. budget, net position; traffic light (green/yellow/red) 2) Cash position — current cash on hand; months of operating reserve (cash ÷ average monthly expenses) 3) Restricted fund status — total restricted funds; any at risk of lapsing 4) Variance explanation — any line item more than 10% over or under budget; plain-English explanation 5) Action needed from board — any financial items requiring board decision or awareness Output: Board financial dashboard. One page. Non-accountant friendly language. Traffic lights for key metrics. Action items clearly flagged.
Why it works
The months-of-operating-reserve metric is the most important number for a nonprofit board — it converts cash balance into a practical risk indicator. Separating restricted fund balances from unrestricted balances prevents the board from seeing a healthy total cash position and missing that most of it is restricted and unavailable for operations. The traffic light format (green/yellow/red) for key metrics makes the dashboard readable in a board meeting without accounting expertise.
Watch out for
Board financial dashboards must be consistent month-over-month to be meaningful — changing what metrics are shown or how they're calculated undermines the board's ability to identify trends. Establish the dashboard format with your board treasurer before the first presentation and change it only with explicit acknowledgment that prior-period comparisons may be affected.
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