Many commercial accounting products have 2 elements - a natural account and a department - and this works fine for commercial entities.  In a nonprofit with multiple funding sources this quickly causes reporting issues.

We regularly work with nonprofits (NPOs) who use commercial accounting software and don’t understand why the software products designed specifically for NPOs offer more than 2 elements or dimensions in their account structures.

I was recently at a mid-sized NPO using a commercial product with two elements, a “Reporting Unit” (RU) and an object code or natural account element.  

So I asked them, what is

DUE DILIGENCE IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING NONPROFIT SOFTWARE MARKET

When organizations are closing in on the purchase of nonprofit accounting software, they generally take the time to call references.  Talking to other people who use the software is common and smart practice.  

People who are living with a solution – who rely on it each day to carry out their responsibilities – are in the very best position to give you great insight on strengths and weaknesses of a particular product.  We always encourage buyers to talk to other nonprofit and government organizations using AccuFund.

Product Due Diligence Isn’t

When mapping the direction and strategy of your nonprofit, the ultimate goal is always mission fulfillment.  But are there habits and processes that need to change in order to see dramatic improvement?  

Are there change agents within the organization that have pointed to areas of deficiency who have been routinely told “not yet”?  Are there areas of the organization that are operating exactly as they did five years ago, ten years ago?  What about your accounting department?  Are they using the same processes and tools as they were years ago?  Is the only change the increased number of spreadsheets

The following article was originally featured on the Nonprofit PRO website, December 2016.

The impact of nonprofit organizations in changing lives and communities for the better can never be fully calculated.

The wonderful goodness of combining the resources of knowledge, ability, funding, and delivery of service, in order to accomplish good - optimal assistance and transformation - is something nonprofit employees, funders, donors, advocates and volunteers should be proud of.

It could be said that the whole is greater than the sum of parts when it comes to nonprofits and their function in society.  And, it could be said that

I recently moderated a session at an association meeting “The Role of Internal Controls in Preventing Bank Fraud”.   The speakers included a Bank Examiner, a CPA and the CEO of a nonprofit agency.  They provided a nice balance of different points of views and resulted in a good discussion.

Internal and external vulnerabilities

One thing quickly became apparent, there are really two avenues for bank fraud, internal and external, and there are different activities or functions that a nonprofit should include to reduce the chance of fraud in their nonprofit.  All of these apply to government agencies as well. 

AccuFund has been working for many years with some large non-profits and foundations that require endowment accounting capabilities.  Our Allocation Management module was developed for two specific purposes, allocating indirect costs for grant-funded organizations and nonprofits with endowments that need to allocate income and expenses to named funds.  Our first endowment client started using AccuFund in 2004 and they continue to use it successfully today. 

We have added a number of endowment organizations, both foundations and other nonprofits with endowments.  We decided that this should become a focused market for AccuFund.  We have an excellent solution for Foundations that includes

Representative Payees are government agencies, nonprofit organizations or a relative or friend who is appointed by the Social Security Administration to handle the Social Security matters of beneficiaries who are not able to handle their own financial affairs.

The SSA defines the responsibilities of the Representative Payee as:

• Determining the beneficiary's total needs and using the benefits received in the best interests of the beneficiary.
• Maintaining a continuing awareness of the beneficiary's needs and condition, if the beneficiary does not live with the Representative Payee, by contact such as visiting the beneficiary and consultations with custodians.
• Applying

Your fundraising results are crucial to your mission. Development Directors that can put technology to work employing an easy-to-use and affordable fundraising system are going to see better results than those burdened with manual processes.

When looking for a new system there are two costs that go into your purchase – the cost of the software and the cost associated with implementing the software. AccuFund CRM software will require an implementation fee, but there is no cost for the software itself since it is available through the donated Enterprise Edition Licenses of the Force.com platform.

In addition to the savings,

Why should nonprofits be interested in cloud accounting?

There are significant savings to be enjoyed by emptying out your server room and putting the money you used to pay in maintenance and upgrades towards your mission.

The cloud, through economies of scale, offers state-of-the-art security, disaster recovery, and guaranteed uptime.

Budget-friendly subscription pricing combined with anytime, anywhere access gives your organization the agility it needs to focus on your mission in the most cost-effective way without sacrificing features or performance.

Why should nonprofits be interested in AccuFund?

We currently serve more than 1,000 clients and we special in accounting software