How Top Non-Profits Are Addressing Skills Gaps and Building Sustainable Capacity
Published on by Mike Scaggs, Christa Woelfel, in Client Accounting & Advisory, Not-for-Profit
As organizations grow, so too do accounting and finance needs – and not taking advantage of opportunities these mission-critical resources offer can mean leaving growth opportunities on the table.
Non-profits are a highly specialized field with a complex ruleset – a game of defense and offense. They must defend against strict government regulation, debt covenants, general market conditions, and any changes to those areas while identifying opportunities for growth and threats to their continuing operation.
Merely responding to day-to-day transactions and generating reports leaves your goals vulnerable. With a strong focus on accuracy, compliance, and analysis, non-profits can triumph over unfavorable regulatory, economic, and performance hurdles.
Addressing the skills gap
Proper donation, grant, and revenue recognition (among many other topics) stands out as an area where skill gaps arise. Correctly identifying these inflows and categorizing them isn’t only a legal requirement: it also gives leadership teams and board members insights into financial performance and health. However, experienced, full-time accounting and finance teams can be prohibitively expensive, which can inhibit growth opportunities.
When a full-time hire isn’t in the picture
Non-profits have a strong need for strategic accounting and finance to help identify and leverage opportunities, but don’t always have the budget to bring those critical skills on board. Fractional resources? Can be a game-changer.
Hiring outsourced and fractional finance teams ensures competent, capable hands work with in-house staff to alleviate the burdens of running a solely in-house, full-time accounting and finance group, thereby freeing resources for the programs and services that create a better, brighter future for our communities.
Outsourced accounting and advisory teams offer many, many years of experience and analysis for non-profits of varying sizes, needs, growth rates, and unique accounting/financial situations. While maintaining a full-time accounting staff alone may provide some specialized insights, outsourced and part-time teams pull from a vast wealth of knowledge and countless hours of experience.
Strategically selected fractional accounting and advisory services integrate with and help to develop the strategic vision of an expanding organization while avoiding the pitfalls of inexperience.
Building sustainable capacity
As in all areas of business, growth in non-profits is most valuable when it’s sustainable.
And, as in all areas of business, hiring is expensive. Considering the accounting shortage seen in recent years, the talent needed to maintain and grow non-profits is in short supply and more difficult (and more expensive) to find and retain.
Fractional accounting and advisory services can alleviate the need for as many hirings and easily increase or decrease in scope, as needed. As your non-profit grows, a part-time service can seamlessly grow with it – and help you take advantage of opportunities you might otherwise lose.
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If you’re interested in digging deeper into fractional accounting and advisory services for your non-profit, check out our free fractional toolkit – packed with resources to help you make the most of this strategic approach. The latest edition of our non-profit toolkit includes even more resources – including how your 990 isn’t just a required filing, but can help spread your message and drive your mission forward, and our series of non-profit success stories can spark new inspiration and ideas to help you do more for your mission. And of course, our biennial non-profit benchmarking report has in-depth insights into compensation and benefits that can provide a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent. Download yours now!
