Nonprofit Accounting Blog – Page 11

Accounting for Nonprofits: Close the Book on It!

Preparing Your Books for the End of Year Close

‘Tis the season – the season when nonprofits everywhere start thinking about year-end close. This year, vow that you’ll do all you can to smoothly and efficiently close the books with minimal stress to your accountant. Accountants everywhere thank you.

In all seriousness, there are many reasons why doing a good job preparing your books for the end of year close is important. Without closing your books for the year, you’ll have no idea if your nonprofit was profitable or not. Closing the books and reconciling them means that you’ve tallied up everything for the end of the year, put a period or end point on it, and start with a fresh slate in the new year.

Register for this Webinar Now: The Modern Day General Ledger – Leveraging Cloud Technology for Nonprofit Accounting.

Closing the accounts for the year reset the revenue and expense lines to zero. These ‘temporary’ accounts are now ready for the new year, a clean slate, and a new eye to profitability. Without closing your books, you’ll have a muddle of data to assess, and you won’t get a clear picture on how well your organization achieves its financial goals during the year.

Accounting for Nonprofits: Tips for Success

There are certain steps you can take to successfully close your books for the end of the year. This includes:

Keep your accounts updated: Schedule time monthly to reconcile expenses and income. If you let it all pile up to the end of the year, it will feel overwhelming. There’s also more of a chance to make mistakes and forget items.
Create a checklist: A detailed and thorough checklist that details every step for your year-end close is a helpful resource. Such a process can guide you through the close out each year and save time.
Ask questions during the year: Hopefully, you have a great certified nonprofit accountants to work with, someone who knows your nonprofit and is open to questions. Don’t let questions delay your routine accounting practices. Ask questions throughout the year so that you don’t let mistakes proliferate.
Schedule plenty of time for your audit: Dovetail your end of year close with audit prep, but leave plenty of time for your audit. By doing both at the same time – audit prep and end of year close – you’ll be well-prepared for the new year.

Pay Bills, Lower Receivables

Another useful end of year task to tackle before reconciling and closing your books is to pay off any outstanding invoices so that you carry fewer into the new year. You should also review your accounts receivable file, and attempt to collect any past due invoices. You can certainly carry these over, but it is always a good idea to avoid open receivables. The fewer receivables you have, the more income your nonprofit has at the ready.

While closing out your books may not be top of mind as you celebrate the holidays, tackle the tasks early enough in the month so that you can get them done while people remain in the office. Note when your accounting team may be taking time off to travel or celebrate the holidays, and work around their schedules. You can complete your end of year close with plenty of time to enjoy the festivities of the season.

Beck & Company

Beck & Company provides nonprofit accounting and audit services in Washington, D.C and Virginia. Founded in 1987, we specialize in the world of nonprofit institutions, helping them to navigate the complex world of finance and accounting. Our services are always personalized, and cost-effective for your institution. We welcome your inquiry or call. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 x 8001.

New Mobile App Helps Nonprofits Reach Potential Donors

If you’re like many nonprofits, your mailing list and email list is bulging with inactive accounts. These are people who, for whatever reason, signed up to receive messages from your organization but who haven’t donated in a while. They may still be interested in your cause or your activities, but you can’t be sure. Yet removing them from your lists seems counter-intuitive. After all, you worked hard to attract them in the first place.

A new mobile app, called LetsAllDoGood, promises to change that dynamic and reach inactive list members via their smartphones. According to the Pew Center for Internet Research and Technology, 68% of all adults own a smartphone, and that number is anticipated to climb until smartphones become as ubiquitous as wristwatches. LetsAllDoGood capitalizes on this phenomenon by offering an app that pushes partner notifications out to people who have downloaded the app.

How It Works

The app works on the same principle as Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. There’s a constant barrage of communications available, and the average person doesn’t read most of their emails. Instead, they scan headlines and top news to find out what is going on. Sites like Facebook offer messenger apps and alerts that push notifications from the system to a user’s desktop, tablet or phone. LetsAllDoGood works by the same principle.

Users installs the app on their smartphone. LetsAllDoGood signs up nonprofits, who then feed messages out from their organization. The app “pushes” these messages out, which pop up on the screen of the smartphone. It instantly cuts through the clutter.

The app bridges the gap between email, social media, and the users. Each helps communicate important updates with your constituents, but may not reach everyone all the time. It would be wonderful if people opened and clicked on emails to read stories, but they don’t. With the app, messages are pushed right onto the screen, making sure that people see them. This makes it easier to click and read more, click and donate, or share with others.

How the App Can Help You Reach Donors

Some of the people on your current list may be receiving your emails and donation requests, but may not open them. Gmail, for example, pushes what it perceives as advertising or promotional emails into a separate folder, thus hiding them from the average user who scrolls through their list of active emails for important messages. Your email messages may be relegated to this or other folders on many systems.

LetsAllDoGood changes this dynamic by enabling pop up messages on phones. Most people are glued to their smartphones anyway, using them for everything from online banking to finding a restaurant. It’s a simple step to make a donation from their phone using the app. A crisis call for funds, a special event and other triggers can be more successful using the app.

Nonprofits and Tech: The Trend Continues

This mobile app is just another in a long string of technology trends affecting nonprofit organizations. Using email marketing, social media, and other web-based applications and systems to generate interest, enthusiasm and awareness for your mission continues the communication in new and exciting ways.

Until then, learn about LetsAllDoGood on the company’s website. It is free for nonprofits to partner with LetsAllDoGood.

The technology works on Apple products only at the moment. It is expected to be available on Google Play soon.

Beck & Company

Beck & Company is an independent certified public accounting firm located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1987, we specialize in the world of nonprofit institutions, helping them to navigate the complex world of finance and accounting. Our services are always personalized, and cost-effective for your institution. We welcome your inquiry or call. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 x 8001.

Add Processes to Improve Nonprofit Operational Efficiencies

Nonprofit Financial Management for Improved Performance by Adding Process Roadmaps

How many times have you started on a project or a task only to have that sense of déjà vu? Perhaps you had to perform that task last year, or a similar task last month. Unless you documented how you went about performing this task, however, it’s unlikely that you’ll remember the exact steps. That leads to duplicate efforts and re-creating the same task over and over again. In other words, you end up reinventing the wheel.

Many nonprofits fall into this trap simply because they are under-staffed. Their current staff is busy completing their assigned task lists, thinking ahead to next month, serving constituents, and doing all of the myriad tasks it takes to keep a healthy nonprofit organization humming along. It can be difficult to carve out time to draft a process roadmap, and still even more difficult to develop a plan to store such roadmaps and transmit them to others during the employee onboarding process. Still, without such roadmaps in place, valuable time is wasted. Nonprofit financial management can improve operational efficiencies by creating a process roadmap.

What Is a Process Roadmap?

Roadmaps are going the way of the telephone book, but they still provide a good analogy for documents around the office. A process roadmap maps out the path from start to finish that you take in order to complete a task. It includes vital information such as who performs which task in the process, what resources may be needed, and when the task should be completed.

Such a document need not be lengthy or cumbersome. In fact, the simpler and easier it is to read and understand, the better. Some companies require process documents to be one page or less to ensure they are as simple as can be.

Once a process is documented, it can then be replicated by anyone in the organization or delegated to someone outside of the organization. It is a great time saver after the initial time is invested into creating the document.

Uses of Process Maps for Nonprofit Financial Management

Let’s take a look at two common tasks nonprofits face and how process roadmaps can help:

Annual charity event: Many nonprofits hold annual fund-raising events such as golf tournaments, sales, open houses, and the like. These events are frequently process-driven and require that multiple people pitch in and ready things for the date of the event. The date is usually set far in advance, so that a timeline can be easily mapped out from the event date back to the first tasks in the process, such as securing the venue. When a process map is in place for an annual event, it can be delegated to multiple staff members, volunteers, or outsourced partners.
Audits: An annual financial audit is another event that can be transformed with a basic process in place and mapped out. You know when the audit will take place, and which documents must be gathered for the auditors. Specific resources may need to be earmarked for the auditing process, such as conference rooms reserved, personnel available, files organized and so on. Once a process is mapped and in place, the audit can go smoothly each year if the process is followed.

Organizing Your Processes

The most efficient way to organize processes is to create a template. The template can include:

Name of the process
Date when the draft was created
A brief explanation of the process
Goals and outcomes
Timeline and deadlines
Materials or other things needed
Step by step instructions, tagged with the role assigned to each step.
List of resources

A shared network drive or cloud-based system such as Google Docs, free to use with a standard (and free) Google account, makes it easy to organize all of your processes and provide access to staff at any given time.

Include Training

Lastly, be sure to include some basic training once the processes are in place. A process can only be used if it’s efficient and if people are aware it exists. Training familiarizes everyone with the steps in the process and provides a valuable opportunity for feedback to adjust the process.

Having your most important projects and events mapped out using a process roadmap saves you a great deal of time and effort. It enables you to transfer knowledge to new employees or volunteers and to smoothly and successfully navigate the path yet again. It is a great tool for organizational efficiency.

Beck & Company

Beck & Company is an independent certified public accounting firm located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1987, we specialize in the world of nonprofit financial management, helping you to navigate the complex world of finance and accounting. Our services are always personalized, and cost-effective for your institution. We welcome your inquiry or call. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 x 8001.

Nonprofit Financial Management Tips [Free Webinar]

Why Nonprofits Need to Learn More About ASC 606 and IRFS 15

Nonprofit financial management includes keeping abreast of FASB changes, and examining your accounting methods to ensure they coincide with the latest recommendations. In May 2014, FASB issued Topic 606: Revenue from Contracts with Customers. In it, plans were unveiled to require all entities, both public and private, to change how they accounted for revenues. Revenues were to be recognized when the entity satisfied the performance obligation with the customer. This usually means that when goods or services are transferred to the customer, the revenue can be recognized.

While much of the work of a nonprofit doesn’t fall under the new ruling, some of it might, which is why you should pay attention to the changes and evaluate your revenues accordingly. Activities typical of a nonprofit that might be considered under the new ruling include membership fees, conferences and seminars, subscriptions, tuition, products and services, advertising, licensing, sponsorships, royalty agreements, and federal and state grants and contracts.

Nonprofits seeking to learn more about the law should sign up for the forthcoming seminar from Intacct: The Impacts of ASC 606 on Subscription Businesses. This webinar will take place on Thursday, November 3^rd at 11 a.m. PST/ 2 p.m. EST.

If you are currently using spreadsheets to manage your accounting, it will be almost impossible to comply with this law and IRFS 15 compliance, the effects of which will begin in December 2016.

The webinar is led by Tony Sondhi, a member of FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force and an expert on revenue recognition. This is a unique opportunity not only to learn first-hand about 606 and IRFS 15 compliance but to learn from a well-known expert and member of the FASB task force.

At this seminar, you will learn more about the changes begun by these rulings, as well as information on how you can interpret and implement them for your organization. You will also learn more about the financial risks for subscription businesses. Many membership organizations rely upon a subscription model, which is directly impacted by these rulings.

According to the FASB document, “The core principle is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.”

The AICPA has put together a good paper that outlines the requirements and delineates the steps to take under each. There are five basic steps to comply with the new regulation:

Identify the contract with the customer.
Identify the performance obligation within the contract.
Determine the transaction price.
Allocate the transaction price.
Recognize the revenue when the entity satisfies the transaction.

Typically, step 5 occurs when goods or services are delivered satisfactorily to the customer.

The goal, of course, is to protect customers and to make it simpler and clearer for entities to recognize revenues. Many organizations are already using similar protocols, and for those organizations, making adjustments to satisfy the requirements should be simply. For others, it may take a deeper look at the way they are recognizing revenues, and shifting some of their processes.

Do You Need to Make Adjustments?

All nonprofits should assess their accounting practices and see how their revenue streams compare to the new rules. Organizations should also consider what, if any, impact this may have on their financial statements. It is a wise move as part of nonprofit financial management.

Keeping Abreast of FASB Changes

We have previously shared details of the proposed FASB changes taking effect in 2016. Any changes that impact your business should be noted and researched as soon as possible. Nonprofits, like other business entities, must comply with all requirements. Failing to do so can put your nonprofit at risk for losing its nonprofit status. You also risk falling behind in compliance issues, an important part of accurate nonprofit financial management.

More seminars are available to provide updates on various issues pertaining to accounting and nonprofit accounting and finance. You may view our complete list online.

Beck & Company

Considering the Cloud?

Here’s What Nonprofit Accountants Need to Know about Cloud Computing

Many nonprofit accountants continue to be reluctant about switching their files and systems to the cloud. Cloud computing uses shared servers and hardware, rather than servers and hardware located in your physical office space, to store files and run programs. Cloud programs are accessed through secure web-based portals, making it appealing for companies with a mobile workforce or who work from client sites frequently.

Concerns about switching to the cloud range from security concerns to cost concerns. Advances and changes in computing often come with some anxiety. Accountants who, in times past, purchased new hardware and upgraded their programs annually, suddenly find themselves considering site licenses, monthly or annual fees, and new business considerations related to cloud computing. It’s definitely a shift in how organizations think about their technology needs and roll out tech changes.

Dispelling the myths surrounding cloud computing can help you feel more confident as you consider the options. Cloud computing is now ubiquitous in many industries, and nonprofit accountants are catching on to its many benefits.

Cloud Computing Concerns

First, let’s address typical concerns shared by nonprofit accountants regarding moving to the cloud.

Security: Many fear that because public clouds, or the typical cloud solution embraced by the average organization, aren’t as secure as paper-based files or networks housed within their physical office. Consider your current security situation for your files. Are valuable files backed up on your server? If so, where are the backups housed? Do you lock your file cabinets, and are they located in rooms with locking doors? Many offices use convenient central files that, while they take up less space and make it easier for workers to access, are by no means as secure as the company assumes. Cloud security, on the other hand, is usually top-notch. Because the companies providing the cloud invest heavily in security, they can afford the best and are constantly updating and upgrading their technology. They may still be breached or hacked, but they are probably more secure than what you are currently using.
Costs: Cloud costs may be confusing at first, but they tend to be less than what you would spend on upgrading your hardware. Many cloud solutions provide a monthly fee with an annual subscription that offers significant savings. If you amortize the cost of hardware and software investments in the past, cloud computing tends to come out ahead in terms of cost savings.
Mobility: Many nonprofit accountants take work home, especially during busy times of year such as end of quarter and the spring run-up to tax season. Cloud computing is mobile, and can be accessed anywhere you have a web connection. This makes it easy to log on from home, complete your work, and access it again from the office the following day. If you travel frequently, or work onsite at a client’s location, you can also access all of your files no matter where you are.

Choosing a Cloud Vendor

As you can see, the cloud offers many advantages for nonprofit accountants. If you are considering a cloud vendor, review several to find the best match for your requirements.

Check references and delve into the vendor’s reputation.
Request data on downtimes. How does the vendor handle outages and problems?
Do they have someone available 24/7 to help you by phone, email or chat, or do they limit communications?
Who owns the data?
Do they own their own server or rent space from another company?
What support and backup do they offer? How frequently is data backed up, and what are their recovery plans if data is lost?
What security do they have in place?
What is the cost and contract terms?

Cloud computing offers exciting opportunities for flexibility, cost-savings and security. Moving to the cloud is usually a smart choice for nonprofit accountants.

Beck & Company

Established in 1987, Beck & Company is a group of Washington DC and Virginia Certified Nonprofit Accountants. Our services are personalized to your organization’s needs. We provide independent auditing, accounting, tax services, and consulting to help keep your organization’s finances running smoothly. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 x 8001.

Reacting to the Unexpected: Filling Senior Accounting Roles

It’s the phone call nobody wants to receive: a senior level staff member at your nonprofit organization has a personal emergency or has fallen ill and is in the hospital. Not only are you worried about them, but you’re also worried about fulfilling their obligations in light of an impending annual audit or year-end close. There’s a lot to do and you’re short a critical staff member’s talents.

While your team member is recovering or dealing with personal issues, you can fill that vacancy in several ways. The first thing to remember is that no matter how stressful things seem, there’s always a way to solve a problem. You can’t replace someone, but you can fill a vacancy.

Replacing Senior Financial Positions

Your organization’s controller, chief financial officer, or other senior-level accounting or finance person is likely responsible for many tasks. She is responsible for overseeing the accounting and finance teams, for apportioning funds, and for general fund accounting. She may be responsible for investments and for leading the end of year close or audit. All of these tasks are vital for the health and well-being of your organization.

First, decide how long you’re going to need someone for the temporary vacancy. If it’s just for a few days, someone from within the department is likely able to step in and lead open projects. If it’s weeks or months, however, you’ll need something more permanent to keep the work moving along.

Consider whether or not a consulting firm can fill the gap. Consultants offer many advantages over temporarily replacing an open position. A consulting firm can offer expert advice and insights that not only help you over the current bump but may provide long-lasting benefits for your organization.

You have several options to fill the gap left by an unexpected vacancy. You can:

Temporarily promote from within: Is there someone on the current team who can step into the role, even if it’s just temporary? Often you’ve got a star player already on the team who understands what needs to be done and who can lead the charge. Look within first to see if anyone fits the bill.
Work with a placement firm: Some placement first specialize in filling temporary finance positions. These firms screen senior and mid-level executives for you, and can find a consultant to fill the role. It may take that person a few days to fully understand the organization, and there may be cultural gaps as they learn the ropes at your nonprofit, but this can be a good measure if the position will be vacant for several weeks or months.
Hire a consulting firm: Firms such as Beck & Company can step in and lead the team temporarily. We can help you prepare for end of year close, a nonprofit audit, or an upcoming board meeting. We work as business consultants as well as accountants and have a team of CPAs, financial and business experts in the nonprofit world, ready to work with you.

At Beck & Company, we can help you get back on your feet when an unexpected vacancy stops progress on accounting and business projects. We can help you sort through the stress of an impending audit or help you figure out what needs to get done. Our consultants specialize in the world of nonprofits. We provide independent auditing, accounting, tax services, and consulting to help keep your organization’s finances running smoothly. Fund accounting is just one of our many specialties. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 ext. 8001.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service in a Nonprofit Environment

Providing customer service in a nonprofit environment takes different forms depending on the type of work you’re doing. A homeless shelter that provides meals, beds, and hot showers on a daily basis may find that simply greeting each guest warmly and making sure the soap dispensers are filled is making great strides on their customer service. An educational nonprofit that sells books and teaching aids may find that fulfilling orders quickly boosts their service. To improve customer service in a nonprofit environment, you must first decide what good service means to your organization, determine ways to measure it, and then implement practices to improve it.

Determine Service Baselines

The first thing to do is to determine what constitutes the absolute minimum level of good service you can provide to your constituents. Here’s a simple checklist to help you take that first step.

At what point do members of your organization interface with the public?
Is it by phone, in person, social media, or at events?
Who meets with the public? Is it one person, a team, or everyone?
What is the interaction like?
What impression do you want people to get of your organization?
Do you give staff and volunteers any type of training in customer service currently? If so, what is that training?
Do you have any parameters for how quickly phone calls must be returned or who gets to respond to inquiries on social media? If so, how is this information shared with everyone?

Next, think about your desired outcomes. If your desired outcomes don’t match the current situation, what changes can you implement to help you achieve your outcomes?

Measuring Service

Organizations typically apply both qualitative and quantitative measurements to service. Qualitative sounds simple enough; you can send out surveys, save emails from constituents thanking someone for good service, or measure it in terms of donor and patron satisfaction.

Quantitative means measuring, and measuring involves numbers and data. You need a starting point, an objective, and a way to measure the distance between the two. When it comes to customer service, think about measuring the time elapsed between returning calls, the time to deliver service, and similar metrics.

Not everything can—or should—be measured. Make logical decisions based on what’s most important to your organization’s service level. Don’t force-fit anything into quantifiable metrics that doesn’t make sense to track.

Improving Service

Once you know what you have and what you’d like to see, it’s time to put into place some best practices for improving service. In a nonprofit environment, that can be slightly more challenging than in a for-profit environment if you’re dealing with volunteers as well as paid staff, but it can be done.

Set expectations: Set the bar high for customer service, and when new volunteers or staff are trained, make your expectations clear.
Establish written policies: Written service policies also make expectations clear and provide common standards by which service can be measured.
Reward right actions: When you notice people on your team giving great service, reward them by giving them praise, thanking them, or otherwise pointing attention to “right” behaviors.
Model what you’d like to see: Be sure that your senior level staff demonstrate the highest standards of behavior, too. It’s important that managers act as role models for volunteers and junior staff. People practice what they see, and when they see you “walk the walk,” they’ll know that good customer service is important to your organization.

Good customer service is important whether you run a nonprofit or a for-profit organization. When it comes to helping others or fulfilling your organization’s mission, your interactions with the public, and the positive feelings these interactions engender with the public, are what will lead people to think favorably of your organization and perhaps donate to it. It’s all part of running a great nonprofit organization!

Beck & Company

Beck & Company offers certified public accounting and business advice, with an emphasis on the world of nonprofit organizations. We understand the nuances and challenges that nonprofits face and can help you with accounting, business advice, and more. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 ext. 8001.

Fund Accounting Best Practices and Resources

Fund accounting records daily transactions based on a nonprofit’s specified funds. You may have a general fund, a project-based fund, and so on to track income and expenses around grants, donor bequests, or special projects. By setting up a system of fund accounting that’s clear and easy to follow, you can keep your general ledger clean and ensure that expenses, income, and capital are tracked accurately.

Benefits of Fund Accounting

Fund accounting offers several benefits to nonprofits. First, it confers greater visibility on your accounts so that the public can confirm that your funds are being used as you promise they will be. It also offers greater insight into the nonprofit’s overall fiscal health. Donors and granting organizations like to know that their money is going to be used to continue your work fulfilling your mission, and not to close down the organization or conduct your work only half-heartedly due to lack of funds.

You can also manage your accounting better when using fund accounting methods. As you manage each fund, you can clearly see where you may need to increase your fundraising efforts and where you may be on a firmer footing. Funds that are low can be shored up; funds that are robust can continue.

Organizations bestowing grants on nonprofits also like to know where, when, and how their money will be used. Fund accounting makes that task easier, and may improve your chances of gaining much sought-after grants.

Setting Up Fund Accounting Software

The easiest way to track your funds for fund accounting systems is by setting up your accounting software so that it can track funds from the get-go. Most software packages enable users to define specific general ledger fields. These user-defined fields can be used to tag specific fund accounts and keep the general ledger clean and manageable. You can set these up when you install an accounting software program.

Best Practices in Action

Once you’ve established your accounts and you know what you have to work with, you can then implement best practices and develop a plan to shore up low funds and utilize other funds more effectively.

A good fund accounting plan includes assigning accountability for the fund, relationship building strategies, fund solicitation strategies, and more. In other words, you’ve got to know what money you have in the fund and how you’ll continue to grow and nurture relationships to keep it coming in.

As you can see, fund accounting is more than entries into the general ledger. It’s about making accounting an integral part of your nonprofit planning and operations. Accounting techniques like this can help you make great progress towards achieving your mission.

Fund Accounting Help

Beck & Company works with many types of nonprofits to help them organize, streamline, and refine their accounting and operations. We can help you establish your fund accounting system or clean up one that’s already in place but may not be doing what you’d like it to do.

You may also be interested in an upcoming webinar on fund accounting best practices. It’s free, and provides many resources you can use to improve your financial reporting.

We work with nonprofits to transition them into new systems and help them enhance their business and accounting processes. We can help you select the best accounting system for your needs and help you transition to a new system with minimal disruption and downtime. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 ext. 8001.

Tracking Fundraising Metrics: What Should You Measure?

Nonprofits who use fundraising tactics need to measure outcomes just as for-profits do in order to ensure that their marketing efforts achieved their goals. But what should you measure?

Taking a cue from our for-profit friends, we know that specific metrics around marketing campaigns are important: open rates on emails, click-through rates, and so on. Fundraising is no different. We want to measure how many people received fundraising messages, read them, and responded to them.

Here’s an outline of basic metrics to collect, track and review after your fundraising campaigns have ended. How many of these does your nonprofit track? How many should you add to your next campaign?

The Numbers You Need to Know: Fundraising Metrics

Most nonprofits are using email marketing to reach potential donors during fundraising campaigns. Email marketing offers a measurable marketing method that’s relatively easy for newcomers to the world of marketing math and metrics to understand.

Why bother tracking email marketing metrics? When you know your numbers, you know what’s working and what’s not. You can test different elements of the email, like the subject line or the pictures you use, to see which one spurs the most people to open it and donate. You can learn from your campaigns rather than send them out with fingers crossed.

Let’s take a look at three important email metrics, what they mean, and how to track them.

First, a word about email marketing metrics: your metrics are probably sitting somewhere in the system you use to send emails out. This may be a CRM system, or an email provider like MailChimp, Constant Contact, or another company that helps you automate your emails. If you don’t have reports available, the formulas to calculate each rate are included below. They’re easy and can be done using just a calculator—no complicated math.

Open rate: The open rate for an email marketing campaign means how many people clicked and opened the email. This tells you that your emails are interesting enough to read, and that they are getting a reaction from people. The open rate = (emails opened/emails sent out).
Click rate: The click rate for a fundraising email campaign tells you how many people were interested enough to click the link in the email to visit your website. If you’ve asked them to click and donate, you can also compare the number of clicks to the number of donations and see how many people finished by donating to your cause or how many changed their minds after clicking the link and left before donating. The click rate = (emails clicked/emails sent).
Donor retention: Retention means you are keeping donors. It’s important to your organization because it means you’re continuing to both do the good work you intend to do and that you’re keeping your donors engaged and informed. It’s easier to solicit donations from existing donors than to find new ones, so the higher your donor retention rate, the better. You can calculate this number on your own (your email metrics probably won’t include this figure) by using the following formula: Donor retention = (repeat donors)/(previous donors).

Improving Fundraising Campaigns for Success: Register for Our Webinar

At Beck & Company, we want your fundraising campaigns to be successful. We’re offering a free informational webinar on Outcomes Measurement for your nonprofit. It’s more information on measuring outcomes. All outcomes, such as these marketing metrics, are important. Learn which operational outcomes and other metrics you should be tracking and how to harness data to improve your work. Visit our webinar page for more information.

Beck & Company provides consulting and accounting services to nonprofits. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 ext. 8001 for more information on the services we provide to help your nonprofit thrive.

Outsourcing to Boost Operational Efficiencies

“You can’t be everything to everyone.”

Have you heard that saying? It’s an old proverb that has a deep ring of truth to it.

Many people try to cut corners and save money by doing everything themselves. Sooner or later, however, you realize that you can’t do everything well. By trying to be everything to everybody, you fail to be the best you can be in one specialty area. Your organization can suffer as a result.

Nonprofits often suffer from this problem. Founders try to handle their marketing, fundraising, and operations, as well as the mission of the nonprofit. Faced with ever-increasing duties, burnout is common as too many tasks pack into the same 24 hours. And since you can’t be great at everything you set your hand to in a given day, something, somewhere, has to give.

The Flip Side: Hiring Too Many People

Faced with such a dilemma, many nonprofits turn instead to hiring people to fill specialized roles. They hire someone to handle fundraising, and someone else to manage grants. Before long, they have many employees, but now feel the pinch of not enough cash because it’s all going to salaries. While they’re getting more work done, efficiencies suffer as organizations become staff-heavy.

What’s a nonprofit manager to do?

Outsourcing for Operational Efficiencies

Outsourcing is a great option for nonprofits to improve operational efficiencies. In today’s virtual, digital world, you can outsource almost any role at your nonprofit. Of course, the actual work that you do may be hands-on; visiting nurses must still care for patients, teachers must teach, and an animal shelter has animals that need to be fed. But many other roles, like communications, marketing, fundraising, and even accounting can be outsourced.

Outsourcing improves operational efficiencies by:

Reducing overhead and staff redundancies.
Finding and working with highly experienced specialists in their respective disciplines.
Offering flexibility so that you can tap into expertise when you need it, rather than hiring someone full time.
Providing access to top talent without the expense and time of recruiting, hiring, and training.

Outsourcing provides you with the flexibility to find and work with the best people in the nonprofit world. It also frees up your time so that you can focus on what’s critical to your organization.

Everyone’s core strengths are different. When you can work solely with your own strengths and outsource other tasks to someone else, your entire organization benefits. Not only is your time better spent on what you do well, but you can tap into a wealth of information and experience when you outsource specialized tasks.

Finding the Right Outsourcing Partner

Once you’ve made up your mind to find a company to outsource work to, it’s time to make some phone calls or emails. You can find potential vendors through a variety of channels.

Ask other nonprofits for recommendations. Many are happy to help out a fellow organization by recommending great companies, consultants, or individuals to you.
Review trade association memberships. Many associations include fine companies that provide outsourced services to nonprofits.
Search online. Be sure to read testimonials, case studies, and other third-party reviews of the organization.

Evaluate several companies so that you have an apples-to-apples comparison of their experience, approach, and other critical information about how they work and how they approach their projects.

Outsourcing is a great option for finding experienced professionals to help you with tasks that aren’t your strong suit. It can save time as well as add value to your organization. Whether you outsource fundraising, grant writing, or accounting, finding a great outsourcing partner is a step in the right direction.

Measure Your Results

How do you know that your nonprofit is working efficiently? Measure your outcomes. Leading nonprofits use outcome measures to demonstrate success to donors and stakeholders. Learn more about specific outcome metrics for nonprofits at this free webinar, Outcome Measures: Metrics that Matter for Nonprofits held Friday, September 16 at 2 PM ET.

Beck & Company

Established in 1987, Beck & Company is a CPA firm serving the Washington, D.C. and Eastern Seaboard area. Our services are personalized to your organization’s needs. We provide independent auditing, accounting, tax services, and consulting to help keep your organization’s finances running smoothly. Fund accounting is just one of our many specialties. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776