Running a non-profit means you’re dedicated to a social cause, not to your IT. Yet many organizations find themselves weighed down by the administrative grind and complex accounting processes, which distracts from their true purpose. These challenges are all too common in the industry, but they don’t have to be.
Let’s explore five ways industry specific ERPs or accounting software for nonprofit organizations can empower nonprofits to maximize their missions while cutting IT costs by 62% and saving an impressive $81,000 each year.
1. Fund Accounting Made Easy
After years of working with nonprofits, we are acutely aware of the challenge of accurately tracking donations, grants, and other income streams separately. Not only for the usual accounting purposes, but you need to make sure funds are used appropriately and following donor or grant restrictions. We’ve found that this is where Sage Intacct truly shines. With Sage Intacct’s multi-dimensional chart of accounts, nonprofits can track and report on specific funds with ease, allowing you to focus on your mission rather than trying to make sense of the numbers.
That’s not all. As your nonprofit’s mission expands, you can effortlessly add more dimensions to track what matters most, making sure every detail is accounted for, and nothing slips through the cracks. This flexibility allows you to stay focused on your goals while still adapting to the organization’s changing needs.
2. Streamlined Grant Management and Compliance
Similarly, grant funding is a vital revenue source for many non-profits, and managing those funds effectively is crucial for maintaining compliance and securing future funding. Each grant often comes with its own set of rules on reporting, timelines, and spending restrictions. Failing to follow these guidelines jeopardizes your reputation and future grant opportunities – and ultimately, your nonprofit’s success.
Specifically being accounting software for nonprofit organizations, Sage Intacct’s powerful financial tools allow users to easily track all aspects of a grant, from the initial proposal to the final expenditure. This provides visibility into how funds are being allocated across different programs and periods so that you can be confident all your financial activities are in line with the grant’s requirements.
3. Dashboards… For Everyone!
One of the biggest challenges for nonprofits? Trying to explain financial data to stakeholders who may not be good with numbers. Luckily, Sage Intacct addresses this issue with user-friendly dashboards designed to make even the most complex numbers easy to digest. No finance degree is required.
With customizable and visually appealing dashboards, department heads or Board members can access the information they need to make informed decisions without burdening accounting staff with requests that take time away from the mission. This allows accountability for financial decisions to be pushed to non-accounting users and empowers everyone in the organization to make a difference.
4. Let Your Data Tell a Story
In one survey, 72% of respondents said that their reporting requirements are complex and time-consuming. Let’s not beat around the bush, no one likes to prepare financial reports for board meetings because it’s tedious and a huge drain on time, particularly for non-profits that operate with multiple revenue streams and strict regulatory requirements. Sage Intacct makes it significantly easier to produce these reports through its built-in reporting capabilities. Finance teams can create accurate, comprehensive reports for board members (that they’ll actually want to read!) in a fraction of the time it used to take.
The system allows for report templates to be customized and saved so that reports can be generated with real-time information at the click of a button. These reports can include fund-specific financials, budget vs. actual comparisons, and expense tracking, all of which are critical for board decision-making.
5. Making Allocations Simple
Allocating expenses across different programs and funds is a common challenge for non-profits. It often involves rounds and rounds of spreadsheet imports and exports, manual calculations, and tedious data entries. However, with Sage Intacct’s built-in allocation functionality, nonprofits can efficiently allocate expenses such as rent, salaries, or overhead costs across multiple programs or funds in just a few simple steps. It’s almost like Sage Intacct was designed with nonprofits in mind!
Not only that, but you can achieve financial accuracy, efficiency, and compliance in record time with Sage Intacct’s automated allocation software. The proof is in the numbers: nonprofits using cloud ERPs report a 60% increase in efficiency, particularly in financial management tasks like reporting and reconciliation. Sage Intacct’s accounting software for nonprofit allows them to easily set up allocation rules that are applied consistently across their organization. Standardization has never felt so great, and you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.
86% of nonprofit professionals in the U.S. and U.K. are planning to transition to fully cloud-based ERP, finance, and HR applications within the next two years. With modern technology becoming more accessible than ever, nonprofits are increasingly investing in technology to fuel impact. However, because they operate on a limited budget, they must be smart about it. If you’re curious how your nonprofit can gain these Sage Intacct benefits (and more) while still achieving meaningful change, talk to us today.
