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- Unlocking Level 1: Staffing and Retention
- Unlocking Level 2: Managing Data
- Unlocking Level 3: Compliance
- Unlocking Level 4: Technology: Integration, Automation, Cybersecurity
You don’t need an extra life to do the most for your nonprofit. As CFOs and finance team leaders, your focus is beyond just finance; you’re tasked with powering up your whole team and leading your nonprofit to new levels of success.
Finance operations at nonprofits have become more complex and sophisticated. Your role in the C-suite now includes:
- Collaborating strategic direction
- Charting new ways to achieve fundraising goals and realize more significant ROI
- Evaluating and implementing technological solutions to streamline operations and support growth
Yet, you’re also the steward of your organization’s finances and it’s crucial you’re aligning your finances with your organization’s mission, vision and values. Your activities might include properly managing cash flow, controlling finance operations, ensuring accurate financial statements, demonstrating responsible stewardship of funds, aligning your financial objectives with your investment implementation, reporting on overall financial health, and more. While shaping the direction of your nonprofit, you’re also responsible for telling its financial story.
What are your goals for the year, and do you have the tools to achieve them? Press start and get in the game to level up because it’s time to do the most for your nonprofit organization.
Unlocking Level 1: Staffing and Retention
Developing games relies on a team with many people working towards the same goal, and the same can be said for nonprofits. Hiring and retaining top talent is crucial, and your insight into staffing and retention is undeniable. Our 2022 Nonprofit Research Study surveyed 400 nonprofit professionals for their thoughts on the sector.
- Turnover was vast in 2021. In the early half of the year, 35% of nonprofit organizations saw 25% of their team or department quit, and 50% of nonprofits said 25% of their current team or department joined during that period.
- High volatility throughout the workforce continues to affect nonprofits. In late 2021, the National Council on Nonprofits reported that six in every 10 nonprofit organizations had staff vacancy rates between 10% and 29%. Additionally, 16% of nonprofits said they had even higher rates of job openings.
To attract and retain top talent, help your employees level-up by supporting them along their talent journey. When your employees feel appreciated, they’re more likely to remain in their position and recruit others to the organization, and have a greater enthusiasm towards accomplishing your organization’s mission. Understanding your nonprofit employee’s talent journey will help your organization retain great employees and attract top talent.
Unlocking Level 2: Managing Data
Data is key to power up your organization and evolve to the next level. As a trusted strategic partner to the leadership team and board, your goal is to make sure your data effectively tells your nonprofit’s story. You should be leading with a data-driven mindset.
Using data to influence your nonprofit’s operations helps nonprofit leaders and board members make decisions that will create the most impact. A Harvard Business Review report stated 70% of organizations that used an analytics ecosystem reported increased financial performance and productivity.
A technological solution is the easiest way to document your progress in accomplishing your mission. These solutions offer real-time insights to inform strategic and tactical moves. When telling your nonprofit’s story, you need digestible data that shows you’re accomplishing your mission.
Unlocking Level 3: Compliance
There are no cheat codes when it comes to compliance. As nonprofits, there are unique sets of rules you must follow to continue operating. Your role as a nonprofit leader around compliance is to ensure your team stays compliant by relaying the latest compliance standards.
- The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has released several resources for 2023:
Unlocking Level 4: Technology: Integration, Automation, Cybersecurity
You don’t have to wait in line for the next best thing because the next-gen fund accounting software is already here in the cloud. MIP’s 2022 Nonprofit Research Study asked nonprofit professionals to identify their goals in 2022. The top emerging goals for nonprofits were adopting cloud-based technology, integrating technology properly into their existing technology stacks, and preventing cyberattacks.
Your organization’s technology should help your employees perform better and more efficiently. Our research study found that nearly half of nonprofit professionals surveyed used six different digital tools to do their jobs and 23% relied on eight different tools. These same professionals spent 25% of their day navigating through these tools resulting in wasted time.
The right technology for your finance and accounting teams should consider cloud-based and other features including:
- Automated financial processes
- Easy and efficient reporting methods Streamlined finance operations
- At-a-glance dashboards that provide easy-to-understand views of an organization’s financial health
Purpose-built software, specific to nonprofit needs, is crucial to managing – and leveling up – how your team can help your organization meets its financial needs, mission delivery, strategic priorities, and even overall productivity. When you assess your digital maturity, see whether the tech you have informs decision-making and enables productivity and efficiency. The right technology directly correlates with how your nonprofit can accomplish its goals.
Cloud-based technology meets your employees where they’re at and features robust security and fraud protection features. According to our research study, 82% of nonprofit professionals expressed confidence in cloud security, with C-suite and IT professionals the most confident. When it comes to migrating to the cloud, worry no more, we’ve debunked common myths associated with the cloud.
It’s also essential to consider how your organization is combatting fraud. Your organization needs to normalize talking about fraud to prevent it from happening. Utilizing software that has built-in internal controls, monitors user access, and provides audit trails helps your organization be proactive and take steps towards fraud prevention. Offsite servers not only limit physical access to your data but can also serve to protect your data in the event of an emergency by providing offsite redundancy. Safeguarding sensitive financial and proprietary data is critical for business continuity and operational success.
From staffing, data management, compliance, and technology adoption, and other market factors, you are player one when it comes to helping your nonprofit power up and accomplish its goals.
Visit MIP’s Resource Library for e-books, whitepapers, guides, on-demand webinars, research studies and success stories specifically geared towards elevating nonprofits. Let’s talk! Start a conversation with one of our fund accounting experts to get a personalized demo of what MIP can do for your organization.
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