Why a Nonprofit Organization Should Use QuickBooks

Managing your operations shouldn’t come at the expense of draining your energy and time, taking away from your passion of serving those you help as a nonprofit.

Sometimes, though, running the day-to-day of a nonprofit, such as tracking donations received and managing accounts payables can be not only overwhelming but also time-consuming.

The right software and the right expertise can help. As a nonprofit, what accounting software should you use? Minimizing your effort with streamlined accounting software such as QuickBooks can make a big difference in the workload you manage. It can also make it easier for you by automating many things you’re responsible for, including:

• Reporting to your board
• Maintaining program finances for grant reporting
• Maintaining and increasing your donor base
• Tracking overhead and other expenses against income
• Reporting on your annual tax returns and other required documentation

We’re digging in to why using QuickBooks as a nonprofit can help reduce your headaches and give you more time to focus on the impact you care about.

Benefits of QuickBooks

1. Track programs and funds as a subset of operations. As a nonprofit, you’ll have different streams of revenue for different functions within your organization. You will also have to track individual program expenses and funding for grant purposes. QuickBooks for nonprofits allows you to track those program costs, expenses, and incoming funds as an individual program, making your job easier.
2. A system built for a nonprofit in mind. Rather than using a CRM that’s made to be a sales tool and doesn’t have the nuances of what a nonprofit needs, QuickBooks for nonprofits is built around your needs. Even the words used throughout QuickBooks nonprofit version are relevant: donors, donations, pledges, grants, IRS 990 form reporting. The reports, form templates, and statements all incorporate the correct language.
3. Integration with other software. You may use another software to track your relationships and communication with your many audiences: donors, board members, internal staff, those you serve, vendors, funding partners, and so on. QuickBooks easily integrates with many software platforms to automatically pull in the information so you have what you need without manual entry.
4. Tracking donations. There are many ways your nonprofit receives funds, from a single donation, to regular payments or pledges fulfilled, grants, in-kind donations, a fundraising drive, or events. All of this can be easily tracked and categorized in QuickBooks. Some nonprofits use special software for fundraising in particular, and QuickBooks can integrate with that easily, too.
5. Reporting to your stakeholders. Whether board members, internal staff, sections of your donor list, legislators, or those you serve, you regularly have to pull together funds, operations, and service reports. QuickBooks makes it easy to create audience-specific reports. You can pull a donor contribution summary, reports customized for a grant you received, and budget vs. actual both by funding streams and program costs.
6. Cloud-based and accessible. Many nonprofits today may be working with people in many different locations, including staff around the country or the world. Cloud-based systems such as QuickBooks make it easy to access from anywhere with an internet connection while remaining secure.
7. Automatic processes and digitalization. No more keeping files or boxes of receipts. You can scan them or take a photo and upload them to maintain all the information. Much of the information is then automated, which lessens manual entry for you.

Managing the different funding streams, program expenses and operations, and communicating with your stakeholders can all seem overwhelming without an easy-to-use accounting system. To get set up with QuickBooks, it can help to work with experts such as Gift CPAs to get started off well and help maintain the details cleanly.