Do you have the right finance team to help your organization soar?
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A lot of times when I tell my prospective clients (or even family members for that matter!) that I’m a CFO, I get a blank stare.
Chief Financial Officer, I clarify.
Still a blank stare.
Today I am breaking down all of the financial professionals in your nonprofit organization and what they do for you. I’ll show you how a CFO is the missing piece to your arsenal of numbers people.
Bookkeeper. Your bookkeeper manages the daily transactions in your organization. She enters your bills, invoices your donors, reconciles your bank accounts, and makes sure the true numbers are accurate and booked to the correct categories. The bookkeeper often comes with lots of experience in a particular software like Quickbooks Online.
Accountant. This is your tax expert; they understand the ins and outs of the 990, the nonprofit tax return, and they are the ones who conduct your annual audit.
Financial advisor. If your organization has invested funds, your nonprofit likely has a financial advisor who provides insight on how and where to invest your money, based on your internal investment policy (which is reviewed and approved by the board). Your financial advisor should be a fiduciary.
But what about when you have a question on your nonprofit’s financials? Like, can we afford to make a big investment into a new program area next year? How do we reach our $1M annual revenue goal? How do I know which programs are most profitable? Where am we spending too much money?
Chief Financial Officer. Your CFO is your nonprofit finance expert. We review your numbers and draw insights and trends from those numbers, giving you more information to make better decisions for your organization. Our one and only interest is providing more insight into YOUR NONPROFIT. We focus on budgeting, forecasting, cash flow and more. Without a CFO, you have virtually no way to make your numbers work for you strategically.
Your CFO focuses on how to make your nonprofit strong and sustainable based on your numbers.
Think about your own organization: do you have this critical missing puzzle piece in place?
