March of Dimes

March of Dimes is a non-profit organization aiming at the help of moms to complete their pregnancy and deliver healthy babies. Originally, the organization was founded by F.D. Roosevelt to prevent the spread of polio and help moms and their babies to prevent the emergence of the disease that could leave babies crippled for the rest of their life. Today, the organization performs successfully but the recent economic downturn has raised a number of financial problems in face of the organization and now March of Dimes looks for options to enhance its financial performance to meet its goals.

Mission, programs and services

The mission of the organization is to help moms to have full-term pregnancies and to research the problems that threaten the health of babies. The current mission is historically determined because initially the organization was founded to prevent the spread of polio and helping moms and babies, who faced the threat of polio. Today, the mission of the organization has expanded substantially and now March of Dimes aims at helping moms and researching problems that may threaten the health of babies.

In terms of its mission, March of Dimes has developed a number of programs which provide medical and financial aid to moms and babies, who suffer from serious health problems. The organization provides consultation services, providing moms with detailed information concerning their health and the health of their babies. In such a way, the organization helps moms and their babies to prevent and cope with numerous health problems.

Long-range financial planning process

In actuality, March of Dimes faces substantial financial problems caused by the current economic recession. At the same time, the organization attempts to develop a long-run strategy to elaborate the financial planning that will match needs of the organization. March of Dimes relies heavily on donations from diverse charitable resources. However, today, such planning is insufficient because the revenues of the organization from charity have dropped substantially since the beginning of the economic recession. As a result, the organization deteriorates its financial performance and changes in the financial planning process have to be introduced.

Suggestion of long-range financial objectives

In this regard, it is possible to suggest changing in its financial planning and performance. First, it is possible to recommend elaborating the long-range financial plan and objectives but subdivided the plan into short-run stages. For instance, a fifteen year long-range financial plan may be divided into three mid-term financial plans for five years each (Brief & Weiss, 2000). Five year mid-term financial plans may be divided into short-run financial plans, one year each. Such planning will be more efficient because it is possible to define the framework within which the development of the organization will occur. What is meant here is the fact that in a long-range financial plan, March of Dimes should define strategic financial objectives and indicate basic directions in which the organization has to move to reach the set objectives (Friedman, 1997). At the same time, mid-range plans should be more specific but they may be changed under the impact of changes in the economy. As a result, the organization will be able to modify its financial plan to meet strategic financial goals in a long-run perspective. Therefore, such complex planning structure will make the financial planning process more flexible, while the organization will be able to respond fast to changes in the economy and keep developing within the set framework because changes introduced in the short-range or mid-range plans will still meet the strategic objectives defined in the long-range financial plan.

Resources needed to meet financial objectives

At the same time, March of Dimes needs substantial financial resources to meet its financial objectives. In this regard, the organization should rely on donations as it used to do in the course of its history. In addition, March of Dimes should find new sources of funding. At this point, the celebrity endorsement may attract more donations to the organization. The celebrity endorsement may be an effective strategy that can help the organization to attract the public attention and, therefore, to raise more funds. Also, the organization can cooperate with other non-profit organizations to share operations and, thus, to save costs.

Borrowing and spending decisions to meet financial objectives

In such a situation, the organization should pay attention to borrowing and spending decisions to meet financial objectives. The organization should cut spending in the time of the economic recession. At the same time, the organization should conduct borrowings carefully to avoid a substantial rise of its liabilities, especially long-run liabilities.

Conclusion

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that March of Dimes is a non-profit organization that aims at helping moms to have full-term pregnancies and researching health problems that may threaten to the life of babies. However, the organization faces the problem of the shortage of financial resources. To solve this problem, March of Dimes should make its financial planning more flexible and find new financial resources to cover its financial needs.