KAPPA COMMENTARY: NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Addressing Kappa’s Fiscal Management: “Long Range Planning vs. Strategic Planning” By Kevin D. Kinsey
considered to assume present knowledge about future conditions and it looks to make certain to yield the plan’s exact results over the period of its implementation. However, strategic planning, assumes that your organization must be quick to respond to a dynamic, yet, changing environment, which may require corrective matters to insure positive results in the future. Strategic planning then, goes to the importance of making decisions that will ensure Kappa’s ability to successfully respond to changes in the environment that will result in achieving the chapters goals. Fiscal management then required both long range and strategic planning. Fiscal management is the process of keeping an organization running efficiently within its allotted budget. Though the word “fiscal” can be used interchangeably with the word “financial”, in most cases, fiscal management refers to money management within a governed body. Overall, its goal is to improve the way our organization operates by properly planning, recording and performing procedures that relate to the budget. This involves a variety of tools, including budget spreadsheets, accounting software, and guides outlining procedures for chapter management. Poor fiscal management is indicated by a lack of record-keeping and unnecessary or unplanned expenditures that can cause a chapter to go over budget or fail to meet its objectives. Generally, fiscal planning is done yearly, often coinciding with the fiscal year under which our chapters operate. The
types of expenditures accounted for in a fiscal budget differ, depending on the organization. Fiscal expenditures for a fraternal organization like Kappa where budgets are required to function as guides for the day-to-day operations can include operating funds from the collections of dues in which we expense property maintenance, insurance, infrastructure, program activities and events such as the Black & White Ball, Founders' Day Celebration, Guide Right and Community Service. Budgeted expenditures for meetings might go to purchase food for the repast and travel expenses for officers and delegates representing the chapter at the conclave, province council and special occasions. Philanthropic budgets are often separated from the operating income and expenses of the chapter and are appropriated for scholarships, grants and programs that benefit our communities. These expenditures and other normal charges that go along with running our organization can be minimized, if we organize well and budget correctly. For the purpose of creating a more specific and strategically-based terminology, here are summary descriptions for three distinct but vital areas of fiscal management. funding plan and, when agreed to by all the members of a chapter, appropriates funding and resources to the chapter as a whole. Once a budget is in place, financing is the process that implements the budget on the revenues side, determining how the budget will be funded from operational and/or philanthropic sources. Budgeting is a strategic financial planning process that proposes a
A fter my 35 years
being a member of Kappa Alpha Psi ® , I have found that we as Kappa’s understand
that budgeting, fiscal management and financing as important issues in running an effective an efficient organization. As we have reached success in achieving milestones in every field of human endeavor for over 106 years, each good “Brother in the Bond” should continue to support the fraternity in every way that ensures positive growth both financially and physically, while we take charge of this great “ship” called Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. As the National Director of Organizational Effectiveness, it is my role to make recommendations that would be of assistance to the 33 rd Administration in the areas of continuity and consistency for the operational improvement of an efficient and effective organization. Additionally, as a part of fiscal management, my role as an advocate is to focus discussion on “Long-Range Planning” vs. “Strategic Planning,” and its synonymic differences.
Long-range planning is usually
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