Public Workshops

Cosmos is A Bookkeeping Cooperative’s education branch where we work to build collective skills and confidence around resource management.

Online workshops upcoming in 2024

  • Financial Foundations series
  • Building Shared Futures: Planning with Budgets, Cash Flow, Reserves, & Savings
  • Beyond the Monthly Grind: Contextualize Your Finances for the Long Term
  • Cosmos Coaching Cohort for Non-Profits
  • Taller en Español

Financial Foundations Series

Want to strengthen your finance skills in a way that’s aligned with your values?

Part of a coop, union, business, nonprofit, or other project and interested in shared power around finances?

Register for our 4-part financial foundations workshop series. We welcome people at all levels of comfort or discomfort with finances.

Register for April at this link — APRIL Thursdays 12-2pm PT / 1-3pm MT / 2-4pm CT / 3-5pm ET on the following dates:
Thurs. April 4 Understanding My Org’s Finances
Thurs. April 11 Budgeting with Values
Thurs. April 18 Multiple Futures: Cash Flow & Scenario Planning
Thurs. April 25 Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports

Register for September at this link — SEPTEMBER Thursdays 12-2pm PT / 1-3pm MT / 2-4pm CT / 3-5pm ET on the following dates:
Thurs. Sept. 5 Understanding My Org’s Finances
Thurs. Sept. 12 Budgeting with Values
Thurs. Sept. 19 Multiple Futures: Cash Flow & Scenario Planning
Thurs. Sept. 26 Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports

Register for October at this link — OCTOBER Wednesdays 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET on the following dates:
Wed. Oct. 9  Understanding My Org’s Finances
Wed. Oct. 16 Budgeting with Values
Wed. Oct. 23  Multiple Futures: Cash Flow & Scenario Planning
Wed. Oct. 30 Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports

Register for November at this link — NOVEMBER Mondays 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET on the following dates:
Mon. Nov. 4  Understanding My Org’s Finances
Mon. Nov. 11 Budgeting with Values
Mon. Nov. 18  Multiple Futures: Cash Flow & Scenario Planning
Mon. Nov. 25 Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports

Session Descriptions

Understanding My Org's Finances workshop title against the background of a nebula with Cosmos Financial Education for Other Worlds logo

Understanding My Org’s Finances

Basic financial concepts and four reports: Profit & Loss, Budget, Cash Flow Projection, and Balance Sheet + how these tools can help you put your values front and center. An interactive workshop designed for people at all levels of comfort with finances. Whether you are an absolute beginner or totally fluent and looking for ways to communicate more clearly with others, you are welcome.

Budgeting with Values workshop title against the background of a nebula with Cosmos Financial Education for Other worlds flower logo

Budgeting with Values

Budgets as tools for both group planning and evaluation and as a support for mapping more just futures. We’ll ground ourselves in a basic and empowering understanding of what a budget is, discuss how it relates to governance, and share ways to engage your entire organization in the process.

Multiple Futures: Cash Flow and Scenario Planning workshop title against the background of a nebula with Cosmos Fniancial Education for Other Worlds logo

Multiple Futures: Cash Flow+Scenario Planning

How do we plan for multiple futures in uncertain times? Learn to map out possible paths, assess their viability, and see potential problems ahead of time so you can move with greater confidence and intention.

Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports workshop title against the background of a nebula and Cosmos Financial Education for Other Worlds flower logo

Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports

Conventional financial reports can often feel intimidating, confusing, or boring. We’ll share facilitation tools for fostering full group connection with finances as a crucial part of building shared power. We’ll also practice what we’ve learned about financial reports throughout our series. There will be games, stories, charts, & scavenger hunts!

Before contacting us, please see this LINK to some Frequently Asked Questions for Public Workshops.


Text reads "Building Shared Futures: Planning with Budgets, Cash Flow, Savings and Reserves" against a purple, pink, and blue starry night sky with Cosmos flower logo.

Building Shared Futures: Planning with Budgets, Cash Flow, Reserves, and Savings

March series registration is now closed. Sign up for a future round below!

Register for June at this link — JUNE Mondays 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET on the following dates (2-hour sessions each)::
Mon. June 3
Mon. June 10
Mon. June 17

Register for October at this link — OCTOBER Thursdays  12-2pm PT / 1-3pm MT / 2-4pm CT / 3-5pm ET on the following dates (2-hour sessions each):
Thurs. Oct. 17
Thurs. Oct. 24
Thurs. Oct. 31

Register for November at this link — NOVEMBER Wednesdays 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET on the following dates (2-hour sessions each):
Wed. Nov. 6 
Wed. Nov 13
Wed. Nov. 20

In this 3-session workshop, we’ll explore how to create a budget, how to use a budget as a guide throughout the year, and how to plan for savings and reserves in service of your group’s goals.  We’ll also cover methods of comparing plans to reality as you go, and adjusting when things don’t go according to plan.  

This workshop is a mix of both process and technical pieces.  We’ll share frameworks for the who, what, when, and how of group involvement in the budgeting process as well as some of the mechanics of calculation for Budgets, Budgets versus Actuals, and Cash Flow Projections, including spreadsheet templates with formulas and options for format and organization.  We’ll build skills and confidence for directing resources with greater clarity and intention together.

Who is this intended for?

Building Shared Futures is designed with the expectation that participants are already somewhat familiar with the main purposes and basic content of four financial reports–Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Budget, and Cash Flow Projections–and with core financial terms such as income, expense, equity, asset, liability, accounts payable and receivable.  For grounding in this material, we recommend first attending the Cosmos Financial Foundations workshop series above before taking this workshop.

This series will be most applicable for those who have a financial role in their organization. For example: Member of finance committee, Treasurer, Finance Director/Manager/Coordinator, Program or Operations Manager/Director/Coordinator, Co-/Executive Director, coop member, and others who significantly interact with budgeting, as well as people interested in skilling up for such roles.

Learning is applicable to cooperatives, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups who budget.  The focus is on group finances, but individuals and sole proprietors may find some parts applicable too. 

Learning Goals:
Increase understanding and confidence on

  • Creating a Budget
    • frameworks for group processes
    • technical spreadsheet creation
  • Actively using a budget throughout the year
    • Analyzing Budget versus Actual reports
    • Updating Cash Flow Projections
    • Building the skill of prediction and planning
  • Working with savings and reserves
    • Definitions and concepts of savings and reserves 
    • Aligning savings and reserves goals with your values
    • Methods for setting savings and reserves goals
    • Calculating goals using Cash Flow Projections

"Beyond the Monthly Grind" webinar graphic

Beyond the Monthly Grind: Contexualize Your Finances for the Long Term

Friday, March 15th 11-11:45am PT / 12-12:45pm MT / 1-1:45pm CT / 2-2:45pm ET

Registration now closed.

Do you manage money at work or at home? Does thinking about money + the future stress you out? How can you shift your relationship to money & planning? What are some tools that can help with long-term planning?

Join Alex Fischer of A Bookkeeping Cooperative & Hadassah Damien of Ride Free Fearless Money for this free webinar focused on getting you to think about your finances differently. We will do some story-telling around skills needed to engage differently with your money: (spoiler alert: we are not talking about math skills). We’ll get into envisioning your future, the ability to be wrong, story telling from numbers, adaptability and more. We will also share some tools to help you think longer-term about your personal or organizational finances.

This webinar is for you if you: 

  • Manage money at home 
  • Manage money at work
  • Are self-employed, a freelancer or can impact your own earnings based on how you work
  • Want to be less freaked out by money 
  • Want to address the emotional resistance you have to engaging with money & finances
  • Are responsible for financial planning for your business, organization, department or team
  • Are in charge of the finances for your family or yourself
  • Want to learn in community

This webinar is free, and a recording of the webinar will be shared with all registrants. 

"Coaching cohort for nonprofits" against a background of cosmos pink and white flowers with Cosmos Financial Education for Other Worlds flower and stars logo.

Coaching Cohort for Nonprofits

Click here for more info and to register.

Session Information:

  • 8 participants maximum
  • 5 sessions, two hours each, on Thursdays from 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET in May/June 2024
  • Session Dates
    • May 23
    • May 30
    • June 6
    • June 13
    • June 20

The Coaching Cohort is designed for those who regularly present financial information to their teams or organization, and who thrive in group learning spaces. The main focus of our time together is to utilize skills learned from previous Cosmos workshops in a supportive environment and apply them to the current needs of your organization. This is a learning-through-doing space, with a maximum cohort size of 8 participants, ensuring quality time and attention for each participant. 

This Coaching Cohort for Non-Profits provides the opportunity to be coached through the process of creating and presenting financials through hands-on practice. Each participant will create a customized presentation for their organization. For example: Budget presentation for your board, staff or community members; a monthly Financial Check-in Meeting presentation; Scenario Planning for an upcoming Budget decision; a Cash Flow Projection to create Reserves targets; assessing Budget versus Actuals for your board, leadership team or staff.

This series will be most applicable for those who have a financial role in their Non-Profit or Fiscally Sponsored Organization, such as: Treasurer, Finance Director/Manager/Coordinator, Program or Operations Manager/Director/Coordinator, Co-/Executive Director, and others who present financial reports. 

Participants will need to come prepared with a Budget (can be last year, current year or a draft of next year) split out month by month and access to other relevant financial reports. 

Learning Goals:

Increase the skills of

  • Facilitating and presenting financial information
  • Creating engaging and understandable financial reports
  • Receiving and incorporating feedback from peers
  • Discerning what financial information is relevant to specific teams, groups and/or conversations

Click here for more info and to register.


Taller en español

Boletos de escala móvil, incluyendo entradas gratis gracias a nuestros patrocinadores para este taller: La Red de Cooperativas de Trabajadores de la Ciudad de Nueva York (NYC NoWC)Unemployed Workers United; Cooperative Development Institute; y Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Comprensión Básica de Los Estados Financieros

Comprensión Básica de Los Estados Financieros

Lunes 11 de Marzo  3-5pm PT / 4-6pm MT / 5-7pm CT / 6-8pm ET

Inscribirse aquí

Desarrollar confianza y claridad con los estados financieros de nuestras organizaciones es fundamental en la lucha para la justicia social. Repasaremos los conceptos financieros básicos y los cuatro informes más comunes: Pérdidas y ganancias, Presupuesto, Proyección del flujo de caja y el Balance General. Este taller es interactivo y fue diseñado para personas de todos niveles de comprensión financiera. Ya sea que se sienta totalmente fluido y esté buscando formas de comunicarse más claramente sobre las finanzas con los demás, o sea un principiante absoluto, es bienvenidx.


Free recordings of some past ABC workshop special events are available on our Resources Page.