Humanitarian Academy

Mini MBA

Mini MBA Finance and Grants: managing donor money and financial health

Exactly three months to master donor money: budgets, cash, variances, eligibility, audits, fraud, full cost and reserves. Demanding, numerical, free.

  • 3 months · 12 weeks · 144 hours
  • 3 exams · 2 certificates + 1 diploma
  • 3 numerical case studies
  • Verifiable diploma
Start the course
  • Free, unlimited access
  • 12 weeks of in-depth lessons
  • 60 quiz questions and a bank of 90 exam questions
  • 3 numerical case studies and 3 demanding exams
  • Diploma in your name, verifiable online

What you will learn

  • Read and produce an NGO's financial information: accounts, budgets, cash, budget monitoring and forecasts at completion.
  • Manage compliant grants from signature to closeout, including with partners, and pass audits without surprises.
  • Diagnose financial health, recover full costs, build reserves and lead a turnaround.

Course information

Level
Advanced: month 1 (strategy and programmes), month 2 (resources and operations), month 3 (leadership and diploma)
Study time
144 hours over exactly 3 months (12 weeks: lessons, worked numerical exercises, case studies)
Format
Online, at your own pace, free and unlimited access
Assessment
Months 1 and 2: 25 questions + case study, 50 min, 80%; diploma: 30 questions on the whole programme + case study, 75 min, 85%
Credential
Named, numbered certificate of achievement, verifiable online (QR code)
Reference frameworks
Office of Management and Budget (United States) · COSO · United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG)

Enrol in the Mini MBA

Choose your pace. Your enrolment sets your start date: each monthly exam opens at the end of the corresponding month, and the diploma at the earliest exactly 3 months after you start.

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Three months, three exams, one diploma

Each month has four weeks of lessons and ends with a timed exam including a numerical case study. A month's exam only opens at the end of that month after you enrol: the diploma is awarded at the earliest exactly 3 months after you start.

Month 1

Exam: 33 questions · 50 min · 80% to pass

Month 1 certificate

By the end of this level, you will be able to:
  • Read an NGO's financial statements and distinguish restricted funds, unrestricted funds and cash.
  • Build a project and organisational budget, with shared costs allocated using a fair key.
  • Forecast and protect cash: pre-financing, foreign exchange, petty cash and transfers in difficult areas.
  • Manage budget execution: budget versus actuals, price and quantity variances, forecast at completion and flexibility.
  1. Week1NGO accounting: principles, restricted funds and financial statementsWhy accounting matters for a manager · Accruals, cash and matching · Restricted and unrestricted funds · Reading the balance sheet · Income statement and cash flow statement · Closing and dialogue with the finance team
  2. Week2Building budgets: project, shared costs and organisational budgetThe project budget: from activity to amount · Direct costs, shared costs, indirect costs · Allocating shared costs · The organisational budget · The budget in the donor proposal · Exchange rates and inflation in the budget
  3. Week3Managing cash: forecasts, pre-financing, foreign exchange and cash in handThe cash forecast · Pre-financing and its limits · Exchange rates · Moving funds into difficult areas · Petty cash: simple and essential controls · The organisation's treasury policy
  4. Week4Managing budgets: variances, forecasts at completion and decisionsThe budget versus actuals report · Price variances, quantity variances · The end-of-project forecast · Reallocations, revisions and flexibility · The monthly budget review · Country portfolio indicators
  5. Graded case study : The Djalé hygiene project Country office of an international NGO in a fictitious country in the CFA franc zone · 33 questions including a case study · 80% to pass
Month 2

Exam: 33 questions · 50 min · 80% to pass

Month 2 certificate · Opens at the end of the month, after the Month 1 certificate

By the end of this level, you will be able to:
  • Apply donor rules on eligibility, procurement, equipment and VAT.
  • Manage a grant from signature to closeout: reports, amendments, extensions and remaining balances.
  • Fund and monitor partners with modalities proportionate to risk, in the spirit of localisation.
  • Prepare for audits, organise internal control and respond correctly to suspected fraud.
  1. Week5Donor rules: eligibility, procurement, equipment and visibilityWhat is an eligible cost? · The main families of donors · Procurement rules · Equipment, assets and disposal · VAT, taxes and social charges · Visibility, records and organising compliance
  2. Week6Managing a grant end to end: contract, reports, modifications and closeoutBefore signature: reading and negotiating the contract · Start-up: grant summary, codes and kick-off · Financial reports · Modifying the contract: amendments and no-cost extensions · Closing out a grant · The grant tracker
  3. Week7Funding partners: assessment, agreements, advances and localisationWhy and how to fund partners · Capacity assessment and risk level · The sub-grant agreement · Monitoring and checking partners' expenditure · Localisation and sharing indirect costs · Managing difficulties with a partner
  4. Week8Audits and internal control: prepare, prevent, detectThe different audits of an NGO · Preparing for a project audit · Financial internal control · Financial fraud: common schemes · Data analysis and Benford's law · Responding to suspected fraud
  5. Graded case study : A grant, a partner and fuel vouchers Fictitious eastern province of a country in protracted crisis · 33 questions including a case study · 80% to pass
Diploma

Exam: 40 questions · 75 min · 85% to pass

Diploma certificate · Opens at the end of the month, after the Month 2 certificate

By the end of this level, you will be able to:
  • Diagnose an organisation's financial health with ratios and a dashboard.
  • Calculate the full cost of projects and negotiate realistic cost recovery.
  • Define a reserves policy and a funding diversification strategy.
  • Organise financial governance and lead a recovery in the event of a crisis.
  1. Week9Measuring an organisation's financial healthWhy ratios? · Liquidity and cash · Reserves and months of operation · Dependency and income structure · The myth of low overheads · The organisational financial dashboard
  2. Week10Full cost: knowing and recovering the true cost of each projectDirect, shared and indirect costs · Allocating shared costs: the keys · Indirect cost rates · Calculating your true rate · Negotiating with a donor · National partners and indirect costs
  3. Week11Reserves, unrestricted funds and funding diversificationThe reserves policy · Unrestricted funds, a strategic resource · Diversifying: costs and returns · Pooled funds and anticipatory financing · Innovative financing · Investments and managing surplus cash
  4. Week12Financial governance, cash crisis and final projectFinancial governance · Financial information for the board · Financial systems and digital transformation · Recognising a financial crisis · Leading a recovery · Final project: financial recovery plan
  5. Graded case study : The turnaround of the NGO Amani National NGO in a fictitious country, with headquarters in the capital and three field offices · 40 questions including a case study · 85% to pass

Who is it for?

Finance managers and assistants, grant managers, project managers, coordinators and country directors, board members and treasurers of national and international NGOs, UN agencies and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Demanding level: at least two years of experience in finance, project management or administration is strongly recommended.

The certificate

With at least 80% in the month 1 and month 2 exams, then 85% in the final exam, you receive the Humanitarian Mini MBA diploma in your name, with a unique code recruiters can check on Humanitaires Jobs. A free Humanitarian Network account is needed to take the exams.

Key concepts

The vocabulary you need to master for this course and the exam.

Accrual accounting
Recording income and expenditure when the obligation arises, not when cash is received or paid.
Restricted funds
Funds whose use is limited by the donor or funder to a project, an area or a purpose; if received but not spent, they are deferred.
Unrestricted funds
Funds the organisation uses freely according to its own decisions; the basis of reserves and strategic freedom.
Shared costs
Costs of the office or common functions that serve several projects and are allocated using a measurable key.
Indirect costs
Costs of headquarters and global functions recovered through a rate applied to a base of direct costs.
Pre-financing
Expenditure incurred by the organisation before receiving the donor's funds; it has a cost and a risk.
Weighted average rate
Exchange rate calculated over all amounts converted, weighted by their volume, used to value expenditure in local currency.
Budget versus actuals (BvA)
Report comparing, line by line, the budget to date, actual expenditure and commitments.
Price and quantity variance
Breakdown of a variance: (Qa − Qp) × Pp for quantity, (Pa − Pp) × Qa for price.
Forecast at completion
Actual + committed + estimated remaining spend according to the updated workplan, compared with the total budget.
Budget flexibility
Percentage of transfers between lines or headings that the contract allows without the donor's prior approval.
No-cost extension
Extension of a grant's duration without increasing the amount; it consumes fixed costs.
Segregation of duties
Principle that requesting, approving, paying and recording are assigned to different people.
Fraud triangle
Pressure, opportunity and rationalisation: the three conditions that foster fraud (Cressey).
HHI (concentration index)
Sum of the squares of the shares of each income source; the higher it is, the more dependent the organisation.
Reserves policy
Board decision that sets the target, composition, and rules for use and replenishment of free reserves.

References and recommended reading

The official texts and sector reference works on which the course is based.

  1. Office of Management and Budget (United States) (2024). Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR 200). www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200
  2. COSO (2013). Internal Control – Integrated Framework. www.coso.org
  3. United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) (2014). Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT) Framework. unsdg.un.org
  4. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) (2022). Guidance on the Provision of Overheads to Local and National Partners. interagencystandingcommittee.org
  5. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) (2021). The Grand Bargain 2.0 – Endorsed Framework and Annexes. interagencystandingcommittee.org/grand-bargain
  6. OCHA (2022). Country-Based Pooled Funds Global Guidelines. www.unocha.org/country-based-pooled-funds
  7. A. Goggins Gregory and D. Howard, Stanford Social Innovation Review (2009). The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle. ssir.org
  8. ACEVO and New Philanthropy Capital (2004). Full Cost Recovery: A Guide and Toolkit on Cost Allocation. www.thinknpc.org
  9. Charity Commission for England and Wales (2016). Charities' reserves: building resilience (CC19). www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-and-reserves-cc19
  10. Charity Commission and OSCR (2019). Charities SORP (FRS 102). www.charitysorp.org
  11. IAASB (2016). International Standards on Auditing ISA 700 and ISA 705 (Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements; Modifications to the Opinion in the Independent Auditor's Report). www.iaasb.org
  12. Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) (2024). Occupational Fraud: A Report to the Nations. www.acfe.com/fraud-resources/report-to-the-nations-archive
  13. M. J. Nigrini (Wiley) (2012). Benford's Law: Applications for Forensic Accounting, Auditing, and Fraud Detection. www.wiley.com
  14. D. R. Cressey (1953). Other People's Money: A Study in the Social Psychology of Embezzlement. archive.org