Written by Britiany Tompkins
Your nonprofit is highly unique – from your operations to your expenses to your financial management. Multiple income sources, combined with a variety of mission initiatives and expenses, can easily overwhelm standard accounting software (and your staff). That is not good, when nonprofit transparency is vital to succeed.
Is it time for you to take full advantage of modern financial management systems for nonprofits? Download The Nonprofit’s Guide to Greater Mission Impact Through Modern Financial Management and you will see how to today’s options are built to help ensure full transparency from end to end.
Outdated Software and Manual Procedures Create Confusion
Basic accounting software will only get your nonprofit so far. When the software hits its limits, your team must resort to crazy workarounds, manual processes and lots and lots of spreadsheets. Disconnected systems are time-intensive to manage, feeding your team with outdated and possibly inaccurate data.
This quickly becomes more troublesome when stakeholders and donors request reports to see how money is being spent and what outcomes are achieved. Outdated software and manual procedures create confusion instead of transparency.
Connect People and Data to Put Insights into Action
A modern financial management system will connect all the moving parts of your nonprofit organization. Centralizing data will empower your team to track program costs, automatically allocate expenses and provide reports to the leadership or stakeholders upon request—all with accuracy and efficiency. Armed with real-time data, your leadership and board can identify problems earlier, respond faster and allocate resources to the programs that best contribute to your nonprofit’s mission.
Here is how it works.
- Track costs: An integrated financial management solution will track expenses across all departments, projects and timelines. Centralized information makes it easier for your team to enter, access and use the data they need, when they need it.
- Monitor data: A multi-dimensional general ledger provides greater insight into all operations. Choose key performance metrics, then monitor them to improve performance and funding.
- Report outcomes: Powerful reporting features make it much easier to report on financial data, impact metrics, program and membership information and much more. Current, accurate data will give you the confidence you need to make the decisions that drive your mission forward.
Transparency Builds Creditability
The spotlight is on nonprofits to be fiscally responsible with the money earned through funds, grants, donors and membership support. Equally important is showing transparency with each financial transaction. Today’s integrated financial management solutions strengthen your ability to maintain compliance and transparency to meet the expectations of your donors and stakeholders. You will be able to:
- Deliver customized program and membership reports to stakeholders quickly and accurately.
- Track spending on conferences, educational services and operational activities to ensure budgets stay on track.
- Connect uses of funds with outcomes to show programs are supporting your organization’s mission.
Quick access to reliable information and detailed reporting will support compliance and show transparency throughout your organization. All of which will help you continuously build credibility and grow your nonprofit.
Use Modern Technology to Achieve Mission Critical Goals
Even with strict budgets and limited staff, nonprofits need better financial systems to work more efficiently. Replacing outdated software with today’s modern technology will help streamline operations, improve productivity and provide the transparency your stakeholders and donors require.
Read The Nonprofit’s Guide to Greater Mission Impact Through Modern Financial Management and contact BPM for more information about integrated financial solutions and services for nonprofits.
About BPM’s Sage Intacct Team
BPM’s Sage Intacct team works strategically with a wide range of clients to implement innovative technology within their existing accounting systems. Learn more about how we help provide maximum insights and enable real-time results on BPM’s Sage Intacct blog.
