Ecoconomist Review – Vol 1 / Issue 2

Hello, World!

Last month, Ecoconomist which is a Guatemala-based Non-Governmental organization (NGO) published its first monthly Review in English, as well as its first Newsletter in Spanish Mensuario de Agosto— for the first time ever.  This month’s Ecoconomist Review will focus on our NGO’s Ex-Post Financial Spreadsheet.  This spreadsheet will display the organization’s profit and loss accounts on a monthly basis and is available at all times in the ‘Archive’ section of our website: www.ecoconomist.com. Ecoconomist’s Ex-Post keeps an open account of all of the organization’s finances completely transparent and open to anyone, while last month’s Ex-Ante Spreadsheet (which is also available on our website) displays a forecast of our finances.

Img 1. – Ex-Post Financial Spreadsheet online

By comparing the difference between what we anticipated receiving in donations for solar panels and the actual donations which were finally received, everyone will be able to see whether Ecoconomist was able to reach its objectives or not.  So far, our Ex-Post Spreadsheet shows that in fact, Ecoconomist successfully raised US$ 150 for solar panels in the month of September, as it was forecasted in our Ex-Ante sheet, of which US$ 67.81 was allocated to FundaMaya for the installation of panels in the homes of vulnerable families in Guatemala.

Image 1 presents the Ex Post spreadsheet which can be found under the Archive àWork Components section of our website.  By then clicking on ‘Ex Post Spreadsheet’ and scrolling to September 2025 on the Incomes tab, you will see the actual finances of Ecoconomist during September 2025 in the same manner as is displayed by Image 1.  This ‘incomes’ sheet in the Workbook, aside from the money collected for solar panels, also show an additional US$ 200 on line 10, labeled ‘Sistema Acuapónico’ which were raised for a two-tank aquaponic fish tank which Ecoconomist is saving to build for a vulnerable community in post-disaster settings following a volcano eruption in 2018 which devastated much of the town’s infrastructure and isolated it from nearby markets and towns in Escuintla Guatemala. More information on this project however will be included in Ecoconomist’s November Newsletter, so please don’t forget to sign up to it on our website right away lest you forget, at www.ecoconomist.com’s home page.  

So far, we just need to know that US$ 200 which were raised in September will be saved and allocated toward an aquaponic fish tank project in the near future,  whilst the remaining US$ 150 of the US$ 350 raised will go toward solar panels in Sololá, Guatemala.  Furthermore, the spreadsheet also shows the percentage which was allocated to our partner NGO, FundaMaya in this case, which is responsable for installing the solar panels in homes and hence receives 43% and 47% of the donations which go towards the solar panels, totalling in US$ 67.81 going to FundaMaya in the month of September.

Ecoconomist’s Expenditures

As it can be observed in the bottom of Image 1, our Financial Spreadsheet also has other tabs which can be accessed, one the most important being Expenditures (Egresos in Spanish) tab which displays the organization’s balance at the end of each month.  As can be seen on Image 2, US$ 82.19 of the 150 dollars allocated to solar panels which did not go to FundaMaya and will be used for paying the cost of the 4 solar panel systems which were imported from China, will be found on this worksheet as well.  Image 2 presents the Expenditures tab on Excel (instead of in the website) but it contains the same information, and these US$ 82.19 can be found in cell I6, under the column labeled Dollars account in August and line 6 labeled Income.  This should not be confused with Revenue, seeing as Ecoconomist remains an NGO but nevertheless needs to pay for the equipment that is being donated, as well as its transportation and administrative costs.

Img. 2 – Expenditure section of Ecoconomist’s Financial Spreadsheet

The advantage of this particular Financial Spreadsheet which was adapted to Ecoconomist’s operational activities is that it also segragates the operational costs from all of the solar panel costs. For example, under operational costs are now included the NGOs salaries, amounting to four thousand quetzales (Q) per month starting in September, or roughly 522 dollars per month, that is being covered by Energía y Ambiente, S.A., which is a consulting firm providing solutions to renewable energy, water treatment, and aquaponic systems in Guatemala. Other costs such as the purchase of panels, web hosting services or the yearly domain payments for the organization’s website will also be registered in this section of the WorkBook but will always be kept at a minimum.

Finally, what can be seen at the bottom of Image 2 is the organization’s net balance in both its bank account in Quetzales (Qs) and its bank account in Dollars ($). These will then either be spent or accumulated in the following month’s Income sheet.

Ecoconomist – Objectives and Goals

If you find something that does not add up in our spreadsheets, please let one of our team know.  The idea behind transparency is to bring as much accountability to the donors as possible. Another way of maintaining accountability is by setting objectives and trying to reach our goals, publicly.

Image 3

Solar Home Lighting Systems donated in September 2025

Therefore, in next month’s Issue, Ecoconomist will be publishing a number of Tools which can be used to monitor the organization’s activities even more closely. One will be a time graph, indicating the organization’s original objectives or goals (found in the Ex Ante spreadsheet) and the other will by our donor’s pyramid graphs, which will also be published to keep account of our main benefactors.

If you would like to be part of the team or donate to purchase one of these Solar Home Lighting Systems, please visit our website! Or reach out to us to [email protected]. Thank you!