Non-profits frequently struggle with tracking donations, expenses, cash flow and restrictions. The COVID-19 pandemic left behind a wake of industry-wide disruptions, so it’s more important than ever for non-profits to adapt and manage their financials effectively. Take a look at the top five common financial challenges non-profits encounter and how leading financial software like Sage Intacct can help.

1. Tracking Donor Restrictions

Managing funds is an ongoing challenge, considering the multiple sources of funding and contributions with varying restrictions. With restricted contributions designated for specific programs, your non-profit must track them with the correct program. Moreover, you need to know when funds become unrestricted so they can be applied toward other programs. Sage Intacct’s cloud technology simplifies managing your funds by tracking restrictions and release dates. Users can easily tag grants with specific programs and create reports showing fund and program usage in real-time. Having access to financial insights such as these can greatly improve your planning efforts.

2. Managing Accounts Receivable

Understanding the status of your accounts receivable (AR) is critical when managing your organization’s cash flow. Many non-profits have difficulty seeing the real-time status of their AR, including the average time it takes for customers to pay bills, how receivables are aging and the outstanding amount of customer bills. It’s best to manage your AR on a regular basis. Sage Intacct automates invoices and reminders, empowering users to request payments sooner and circle back to unpaid bills with ease. Its reporting features give real-time insights into how much money is outstanding and tools to forecast when payments will arrive. Automation is the key to better managing your AR, helping you to get paid faster and improve your cash flow.

3. Integrating Donor Databases and Financial Systems

After your donors make contributions, you want this information in your financial system and donor database. If there isn’t an integration between these two systems, your accounting staff is tasked with time-consuming duplicate data entry or importing data, leaving room for errors. Sage Intacct was created to integrate with your key business systems via two-way, system-to-system communication. You can build a custom connection between your donor database or choose a new solution with pre-built connections within Sage Intacct’s marketplace. Connecting these systems reduces data entry, increases your financial insights into your donor database and sets you up to increase donor engagement.

4. Allocating Functional Expenses

When you buy a functional expense (such as an office printer), do you have the capability to allocate its cost across departments? How about across programs? If this is put off until the end of the year, it can become complicated and time-consuming. Tracking functional expenses accurately and as they occur is crucial to understanding how different resources support your non-profit and impact the success of programs. Sage Intacct easily classifies expenses by department and program as needed. With time entry tools, employees are empowered to allocate their time to specific programs, work, etc. You can track expenses with greater control, streamline reporting and remove the task of allocating costs at year-end.

5. Reporting Federal Funds

As you’re probably familiar, tracking federal grants is a significant task with its own set of challenges. Since many federal grants are issued on a reimbursement basis, your staff must track how much they receive and spend. Additionally, your non-profit needs to know when to bill the funder. With Sage Intacct’s cloud-based solution, you can record your federal grants with ease in a centralized database. Its advanced features allow you to use dimensions to tag financial transactions to the grant or the funder. Instead of spending time tracking your grant usage, Sage Intacct allows you to shift your focus to securing additional funding. If these financial setbacks resonate with your non-profit, it’s time to explore Sage Intacct. Your organization will benefit from financial insights, time savings and boosted efficiency. Most importantly, your team can shift its focus from data entry and administrative work to impacting the success of your organization’s mission. Contact Doeren Mayhew’s advisors today to learn more about implementing Sage Intacct for your non-profit.