How Nonprofits Can Stand Out in Today’s Competitive Funding Environment

By - January 25, 2019

Today’s funding environment is competitive, and many not for profits are struggling to identify, pursue, and navigate the path to success. That’s why Sage Intacct recently partnered with GuideStar to release the Nonprofit Financial Board Book, a powerful dashboard designed to give nonprofit organizations a holistic view of their financial health.

Today, I’m excited to share everything you need to know about this exciting new tool and what the partnership could mean for your nonprofit.

Sage Intacct and GuideStar: A Match Made in Nonprofit Heaven

This is a recent partnership, and the Nonprofit Financial Board Book was released within the past year. It’s a partnership that was built on mutual respect. Sage Intacct recognizes the importance of GuideStar and the value they’re bringing to the nonprofit community through data and metrics and, as a Sage Intacct customer, GuideStar clearly recognizes Sage Intacct’s status as the leader in cloud financial management software. In my opinion, it was really a no brainer for the two to come together to create something powerful.

This relationship between Sage Intacct and GuideStar is incredibly timely in today’s competitive funding environment. A lot of nonprofit organizations out there are competing for the same donor dollars, so it’s critical for them to be able to provide thorough information about their performance to ensure a level of transparency with their donors. Donors and funders want to know that their funds are truly supporting the mission and deserve accurate data to know that their donations are making a difference.

Introducing Sage Intacct’s Nonprofit Financial Board Book, Powered by GuideStar

What exactly is the Nonprofit Financial Board Book, you ask? Well, it’s a series of dashboards within the Sage Intacct system that incorporate critical benchmark data that GuideStar has identified as being mission critical for nonprofit financial success. Rather than spending time and effort to identify and calculate relevant financial data, this pre-built tool automates delivery of mission critical outcome metrics and allows nonprofits to compare their outcomes with those of their peers in real time.

Key metrics like revenue composition, liquidity, and unrestricted cash are displayed on the dashboard to help nonprofits track their financial health over time. These metrics are automatically calculated using balance sheet, revenue, and expense data from Sage Intacct as well as other operational sources like Donor Management Systems, Budgeting and Planning software, Payroll, and more.

Gain A Holistic View of Your Organization’s Health in Real Time

Historically in the nonprofit space, one of the biggest challenges revolves around a lack of real-time visibility into data. Nonprofits spend a lot of time gathering and consolidating data rather than analyzing and acting on it. The whole purpose of a nonprofit is fulfilling the mission, and this tool will allow nonprofits to step away from their Excel spreadsheets and gain the time they need to make it happen. It will allow nonprofits to move from a transactional to a more analytical perspective. They’ll be able to quickly assess how their organization is performing and what changes they need to make in order to achieve their goals and, ultimately, fulfill their mission.

Gain Peace of Mind By Measuring What Matters

What I’m most excited about is that this new tool will help nonprofits measure the things that matter and deliver exceptional reports to the people who need them. Accurate reporting is important to achieve transparency with donors, but it’s also important when applying for funding from different governmental sources. Having the ability to produce timely, accurate financial data puts organizations in a great position to present their financials accurately, apply for the appropriate funding sources,and comply with various compliance requirements.

If you’re interested in deploying this new tool, know that it’s available for use right out of the box*. It’s an add-on service for Sage Intacct customers and requires an additional subscription. Minimal effort is required for configuration, and once a nonprofit decides to utilize this new tool, they can get up and running quickly and start seeing value immediately.

Is it time to transform your approach to nonprofit reporting? Get in touch with our team of business analysts today to discuss next steps. Or, explore our nonprofit consulting services and how RSM can help you fulfill your mission.

* Before you can subscribe, be sure your company uses the Not For Profit Setup template on the Accounting tab of your Company information (Company > Company Info), or your organization will not be able to access this feature.

Receive Posts by Email

Subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email.