While I do like a good waterfall chart, to me, it is a chart type to use for ordinal events, rather than adding together categories – a progression of additions and subtractions over time.
Surely it’s not strictly confined to that arrangement, but that is where it works best, showing an actual flow of events and their impact.
In this particular case, where it is simply adding together different revenue streams, and then subtracting different expense categories, it adds a great deal of unnecessary visual clutter, IMO, making things much more difficult to follow without adding any real benefit.
I don’t think its use is justified here as a means to show the final profit/loss – that can be done in any number of ways.
In this case, I would present that measure as a large number at the top of the dashboard, where it will be seen first and clearly, and allow the dashboard to then explain the details of how the number came to be.

Make both versions side by side; discuss the pros and cons of each approach with a teammate; make an intentional choice.

Thanks Carrie. I’m a fan of one-page dashboards because I’ve seen them make meetings more productive over and over again. I’ll probably share more examples on the blog later on. I’ve got eight more examples from recent projects that I want to share!

Thanks for sharing more examples. There are certainly multiple correct ways to visualize revenue and expenses – just not the pie charts!
The audience for this graph was the organization’s top leaders (an Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, etc.) and their Board members. These are people who have experience managing staff, designing programs to improve their communities, etc., but are not accountants or finance professionals. For example, one of the groups that attended this particular workshop is a food bank so their expertise is around collecting and distributing food to needy families.
Alright, stay tuned in a couple months to see how they respond to waterfalls.