The Operating Index

Where the organization stands.

The Operating Index sets an organization's filed finances against its field. It states position, and renders no verdict.

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Rendered on a fictitious organization. Every figure is invented.

How it reads

Two lenses, one read.

The statementsAgainst the sector.

The statement of financial position and the statement of activities, every line ranked against the whole sector that filed for the year.

The measuresAgainst the cohort.

Cash on hand, operating reserves, surplus margin, personnel share, and revenue concentration, each ranked against the organizations closest in size, because a ratio is comparable only at similar scale.

The provenanceCited or withheld.

Every figure is drawn from the public Form 990 and cites the filed line it was computed from. A figure whose filed inputs are incomplete is withheld, never guessed. A figure not drawn from a filing is provided by management and marked.

The commentary

The reading is assembled, not written.

The observationsBy fixed rule.

The commentary is assembled by a fixed rule, not generated. The same data produces the same reading, and nothing is invented beyond what the figures support. It walks the statements in order and closes on the measures.

The questionsAt the extremes.

A reading at a span extreme, or in the outer band of its cohort, raises a question set directly after it. The question carries the organization's own figures and states no finding.

The verdictThere is none.

A measure is read as rising or falling, never as improving or eroding. The report states position. The judgment stays with the reader.

The forms it takes

The span sets the reading.

TrendThree to five years.

Each figure across the span, its rank beneath, position and the direction it has moved.

ChangeTwo years.

The two years side by side, the difference in dollars and in percent.

StandingOne year.

A single year beside the median of the field, the difference, and the rank.

The three pillars, on the Operating Index

SystemsThe review runs as a system: the filed record assembled, benchmarked against the sector and the size-matched cohort, the commentary by fixed rule. Nothing depends on anyone remembering to do it.
ClarityWhere the organization stands, stated plainly and ranked against its field, so the answer is the same in every room.
PostureThe read returns each cycle and sits beside the analysis already run. Nothing is rebuilt around it, and the review keeps its date.
Membership

The same read, on your organization.

The Operating Index comes with membership, alongside the Docket and the Casebook monthly. A flat $250 a year for one organization.

Find your organization → See membership →