Free Resource for Nonprofits
A structured, self-guided review of your organization’s financial stewardship practices — generating three tailored reports for your team, your board, and your donors. No grades. No comparisons. Just a clear picture of where you stand.
Many nonprofits are judged by a single overhead ratio — a number that tells donors almost nothing about how responsibly a nonprofit manages its resources. A better way to make that determination is to understand the depth of an organization’s commitment to outstanding Stewardship.
Three Reports in One
Complete the assessment once and instantly generate three distinct reports, each tailored to a different audience and purpose.
A complete picture of your current stewardship practices across all three categories — with a gap analysis that identifies your key strengths and highest-priority areas to address. Designed for your finance and leadership team.
For Your TeamFull transparency for the board — Met, Not Met, In Progress, Advanced Stewardship Opportunities, Not Applicable, and Not Currently Achievable items across all assessed categories. Framed for governance oversight, not scoring.
For Your BoardA polished, donor-facing summary of the controls and commitments in place to protect every gift — covering Met and In Progress practices. Strengths-focused and ready to share with donors, funders, or the public.
For Your DonorsWhy This Matters
Donors and watchdog organizations have long used administrative expense ratios as a proxy for organizational quality. But an arbitrary spending percentage tells you nothing about whether an organization has the controls, governance, and processes in place to protect the resources entrusted to it.
The ACRE Nonprofit Financial Stewardship Assessment gives your organization a substantive, evidence-based alternative — a structured review of the actual practices that protect donor intent, prevent fraud, ensure compliance, and maximize mission impact.
Use it to start an honest internal conversation, educate your board, or give your donors the confidence they deserve.
The Framework
The assessment covers practices organized into three stewardship categories. You can complete all three or focus on the areas most relevant to your organization.
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Evaluates the strength of your organization’s budgeting, financial reporting, board oversight, compliance, and governance practices — the foundational controls that ensure resources are managed with integrity and accountability.
Examines the controls and processes your organization uses to authorize, process, and monitor expenditures — including disbursement controls, segregation of duties, vendor management, and cost-containment practices.
Assesses how effectively your organization manages incoming resources — including grant compliance, restricted fund tracking, revenue receipt controls, cost allocation, and functional expense reporting.
How It Works
Provide your organization name, type, and the review period. This information will appear on all three generated reports.
Select which of the three stewardship categories you want to review. All three are pre-selected by default, but you can focus on just the areas most relevant to your current needs.
For each practice, select whether it is Met, Not Met, In Progress, Not Applicable, or Not Currently Achievable. A “Why This Matters” note is available for every item. Save a resume link at any time — no account required.
When you’re ready, generate your Internal Report (with gap analysis), Board Report, and Donor Report — all from the same assessment. Print or share them directly from your browser.
Free Access
Enter your information below to access the free assessment. We’ll also send you occasional stewardship resources and updates from ACRE — unsubscribe anytime.
© 2026 Administrative Cost Reduction Experts (ACRE). All rights reserved.
The Nonprofit Financial Stewardship Assessment is provided as a free educational resource.
It is not a substitute for legal, accounting, or audit advice.
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