Speculative Budgeting: Resource Management for Our Futures
a virtual workshop presented by A Bookkeeping Cooperative and AORTA
This workshop will be offered twice:
Thursday March 9th 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3PM ET
Monday March 20th 3-5pm PT / 4-6pm MT / 5-7pm CT / 6-8pm ET
INFO & REGISTRATION AT THIS LINK
live CART Captioning and ASL interpretation provided
Speculative Budgeting workshop description: How do we fund our movements without knowing the resources needed to achieve our wildest & most deserving dreams? Can budgets be maps of liberatory possibility? Join Alex Fischer of A Bookkeeping Cooperative and Autumn Brown of AORTA in a creative experiment in bringing seemingly disparate organizing practices together: the creative elements of envisioning change (speculative fiction) and the skill of mapping resource allocation (budgeting). Through participatory and joy-based activities, we will explore the Venn Diagram of Speculative Fiction & Budgeting.
Financial Foundations Series
Want to strengthen your finance skills in a way that’s aligned with your values? Part of a coop, 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. Sessions in the series build on one another and we recommend taking them together to deepen your learning. You can also take them as standalone sessions.
Registration is now live for our four-session foundations series in April and again in June.
April Series
You can register for all four April sessions together in one ticket at this link OR you can register for standalone single-workshop tickets via the links on each workshop title below.
APRIL series — Wednesdays 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET on the following dates:
Wed. April 5th Understanding My Org’s Finances
Wed. April 12th Budgeting with Values
Wed. April19th Multiple Futures: Cash Flow & Scenario Planning
Wed. April 26th Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports
June Series
You can register for all four June sessions together in one ticket at this link OR you can register for standalone single-workshop tickets via the links on each workshop title below.
JUNE series — Thursdays 12-2pm PT / 1-3pm MT / 2-4pm CT / 3-5pm ET on the following dates:
Thurs. June 1st Understanding My Org’s Finances
Thurs. June 8th Budgeting with Values
Thurs. June 15th Multiple Futures: Cash Flow & Scenario Planning
Thurs. June 22nd Beyond Spreadsheets: Engaging Financial Reports
Workshop Short Descriptions
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.
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+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
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. There will be games, stories, charts, & scavenger hunts!
sample past events:
Talleres en Español
Comprensión Básica de Los Estados Financieros
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: Pérdidas y ganancias, Presupuesto, Proyección del flujo de caja y el Balance General.
Financial Accounting for Cooperatives: A Question & Answer Skill Building Session with A Bookkeeping Cooperative and Wegner CPAs at the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives Worker Coop Conference November 2021 (conference recordings here)
Budgeting 101 workshop for LGBTQ+ teenagers with OUT Metro West. March 2021.
Sharing the Wealth: How to Setup Profit-Sharing for Your Co-op; part of the Washington Area Community Investment Fund’s webinar series (FREE RECORDING HERE) November 16, 2020
Financial Accounting for Cooperatives: A Question & Answer Skill Building Session at the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperative’s annual conference 2020(FREE RECORDING HERE)
Forming Cooperatives; part of the Solidarity Research Center’s webinar series (FREE RECORDING HERE)