Student Television Network Transforms Budgetary Process for Greater Growth

Who is responsible for a nonprofit’s budgetary process: its staff leadership or its Board of Directors? This was the key question Student Television Network (STN) brought to our team at PivotGround - a challenge that sparked significant stress, confusion, and even, friction in the past for STN.

STN carries a tremendous 20-year track record of attracting and curating the next generation of storytellers in media. STN supports educators and students with curriculum, communication, and student-led competitions throughout the school year. They also host awards for the STN Honor Society, Student of the Year, and Teacher of the Year.

From the first conversation, STN’s passion and commitment to innovative growth in broadcast journalism, film, and multimedia education is unmistakable. What started as a forum for teachers to share ideas, ask questions, and learn from media professionals in the industry is now empowering the future of media-based leadership. STN’s annual convention draws over 3,000 attendees and STN’s Broadcast Excellence and Film Excellence awards celebrate the best overall programs.

And yet, the ongoing challenge about the budgetary process and fiscal trust was a growing rift in the STN leadership structure. As a nonprofit organization, STN faces greater challenges than many of its for-profit counterparts. Stewardship of resources and fiscal transparency within nonprofit guidelines are key details STN, like all nonprofits, must handle on a daily basis.

A previous negative experience with budget mismanagement by now-former leaders sowed a seed of distrust and the STN Board of Directors felt added responsibility to co-create an annual budget with very limited spending, while simultaneously asking the new executive leadership to grow the organization. New executive leaders and the Board of Directors were at odds about how to best handle their annual budgeting process and align their organizational needs with their budget.

With no fault of their own, staff leaders felt a lack of trust from the Board of Directors that the staff could responsibly steward financial resources well. This led staff leaders to work even more hours to overcompensate for budget limitations, which increased the staff’s risk of burnout. Morale was in danger, Board-Executive communications were strained, and the overall mission and impact of STN was starting to suffer with this tension in place.

At the crux of this challenge was budgetary decisions. With the Board deciding on budget limitations, staff leaders felt their hands were tied when it came to making critical decisions around capacity growth, such as staffing.

The Board felt compelled to provide essential oversight by approving a budget, a process that has traditionally been recommended to boards, but lacked the understanding of why certain budget details matter to the long-term vision of the organization, an understanding that staff leaders are in a better position to possess.

That’s when STN connected with PivotGround. Our team began with key conversations on the nature and extent of the friction and confusion between STN’s Board of Directors and executive team. We worked together to reframe STN’s approach to creating an annual budget. For the board, we placed an emphasis on their overall role being that of “Quality Control”. For the executive staff, we placed a greater emphasis on intentional spending to make progress toward key goals instead of letting a predetermined bottom-line budget limit STN’s opportunities.

Part of this approach also shifted the Board of Directors’ responsibility from approving STN’s annual budget to confirming the budget. The staff leadership team no longer needed to expect the Board of Directors to understand why budget numbers, but instead, the Board could further trust the staff’s budgetary decisions and if needed, ask for clarification.

As a result, the STN staff are now less likely to burn out because STN is using a more goals-focused approach. This shift allows staff to lean on their discretion without worrying over budgetary limitations and board politics.

Through our conversations, the STN Board of Directors was able to gain a greater perspective on how funding can be reframed based on organizational goals instead of a bottom-line budget number. By no longer feeling responsible for approving a budget, the Board of Directors could focus on double-checking and clarifying budgetary details, as needed.

This opened an incredible new path forward where the Board of Directors and staff leaders are now collaborating on what opportunities may best align with STN’s goals. The Board and staff leaders talked through the previous negative experience created by now-former leaders and have a series of checks and balances in place to protect against similar experiences. This gives the Board of Directors even greater confidence in the new STN staff’s ability to steward resources well.

By implementing this new budgetary approach, the Board of Directors doubled in size as a result of more productive communication, healthier Board-Executive dynamics, and a greater understanding of STN’s vision for the future. The Board and staff leaders are now benefiting from a more productive, trust-based relationship for building into the future.