 Welcome to the nonprofit show. We are so glad you're back. We are glad to have with us, again, back with us Jennifer Aliva, CPA, CEO and managing partner with your part-time controller. This is gonna be a fun episode because Jennifer's brought to us today a conversation to talk to us about how the nonprofit sector fared this year in 2023. I wanna say thank you to Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Thanks to her. We have this platform for conversation. I'm Jarrett Ransom, your nonprofit nerd and CEO of the Raven Group. We are so extremely honored to have the ongoing support from our amazing sponsors, which include your part-time controller. Also thank you to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy at National University, nonprofit thought leader. Again, thank you Jennifer and the YPTC team, staffing boutique, nonprofit nerd as well as nonprofit tech talk. These companies collectively and with all of your viewership has helped us to produce nearly 1,000 episodes. Jennifer, you've been with us most from the very beginning. So if you missed any previous episodes, you can find us on streaming broadcast, podcast and you can still download that app. So Jennifer, it's always a joy, always a pleasure to have you here. And I feel like this is very surreal because we are talking today, middle of December, but for those of you watching and listening, again, we have with us Jennifer Aliva, CPA, managing partner and CEO at your part-time controller. Welcome back. Thank you for having me. And it's such a pleasure to be a sponsor of the nonprofit show. We're really happy to have the opportunity to talk about nonprofit issues, specifically financial management issues because that's what we do, financial management for nonprofit organizations. And I love to give the opportunity to our staff, many of our managers, market leaders, regional directors and staff members have been guests on the show. So it's been a really great partnership with the nonprofit show. Well, thank you. We feel the same. We love when a YPTC staff member joins us, which happens at least once a month from all over the nation and really honored for that. Jennifer, tell us a little bit because we might have some viewers and listeners joining us that aren't familiar with YPTC. Tell us a little bit about your services, where you serve and what that looks like for our sector. Yeah, for 30 years, we've been working with nonprofit organizations, helping them solve all of their problems regarding financial management. So we do accounting, controllerships, CFO, budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, analysis, data visualization, and all other types of projects all related to financial management for nonprofits, making the lives of the executive directors that we serve easier and helping them serve their constituents better. Yeah, that's a lot. So thank you. Thank you for what you do. Absolutely love the team, honored to get to see their work in my local community and around the nation. So as we get started for today's conversation, and I feel like we're both dressed a little festive because we're talking about the recap of the year and then also looking forward. So kick us off, Jennifer. What were are the winners of the nonprofit sector this year that you've really seen rise to the occasion? We cannot talk about anything in 2023 happening without talking about generative AI. It's only been a year since ChatGPT has been around and it has made, I believe, an amazing difference in the nonprofit sector and it hasn't already in your nonprofit organization, it should. We just attended the Digital CPA Conference in Las Vegas last week and we actually spoke at it as well. And the whole chatter, the whole time, the conversation was about generative AI and how is that helping nonprofit organizations? Well, if you're not using it to write donor thank you letters or donor letters, start using it. Chatbots are really becoming popular because then individuals and donors can interact with your website. Get more information about your programs, about your events, about your education that you're providing. So ChatGPT, other generative AI products start using them if you haven't and it's already making a gigantic difference and in nonprofits around the country. I would say huge difference. It's become my best assistant, right? Like really, and even if I'm using ChatGPT at the basic I will plug something in as a paragraph and say summarize this or rewrite it or change the tone. And voila, there it is, huge time saver. Any other winners that you've really seen rise to the occasion this year? So on the same lines with ChatGPT, one of the uses is data analysis and reporting with generative AI, but also just for me, financial reporting, accounting, that's our specialty. So I really wanted to talk about the winners in that area. Cloud accounting and apps and AI, that's one of the sections. If your accounting system is not on the cloud yet, you gotta get on the cloud. So many of our clients accounting systems are on the cloud, almost 100% are using a cloud accounting system. It is the way to go. And about 75% of our clients are using QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Online is a really great way if you don't have an accounting system yet to get onto an accounting system or to improve your accounting. And QuickBooks Online, before people are like, oh, QuickBooks Online isn't as good as the desktop version, but it's getting better and better every day. And be aware that the desktop version is going away and not gonna be supported by QuickBooks or into it in the near future. So you have to be aware of that and switch over to the online if you haven't already. But QuickBooks Online is offering QuickBooks bill pay. You would think that QuickBooks had bill pay before. So that is a really great new feature that they have. Also auto sync customer info from QuickBooks to MailChimp. And that's gonna be great for not having to double entry information into your accounting system and into your customer system or your marketing system. QuickBooks Online Advanced also has a great syncing system with Excel that's really gonna help input and input of information into QuickBooks. So, QuickBooks Online, go to work. Yeah, that sounds fantastic. And I know that there's a lot of integrations as well into donor databases. In particular, I know that Bloomerang and a QuickBooks Online has an integration. Talk about time saving. That is amazing. So those are really good winners. And you're right. I've been to a couple of conferences this year. I keep seeing also Jennifer, the tech rising to the top and how the advancements are really soaring. And it's just inspiring. I find it inspiring. So agreed. And there's so many other things. Bill.com or now Bill is a great app that links right onto QuickBooks that we use all of the time for also for BillPay but also for invoicing customers. We use Divi and Expensify for expense report management and then reporting. So you have all this information in your accounting system. How do you get it out and have meaningful reports for your management team and your board? QuickBooks has a good system built in internally but there's apps that really enhance the QuickBooks data and the reporting processes. And one that we love to use is called Reach Reporting. And that's something we've been really using for many, many of our clients over the last year. So that's definitely a winner of 2023. And also I have a really cool thing, a little bit of a tease and announcement that we're building our own reporting process, our own reporting app reports YPTC coming soon. Nearing. Wow. And we love these breaking news. Early in the pandemic, you were literally joining us on Friday, sharing some news like that. So thank you. That's exciting. Can't wait to hear how that progresses. God, that was big news. You caught me off guard. Wait, I have even a better one. Okay. For analysis. So chat GPT, you can use that for analysis but you really do have to be careful about putting your private information and your company data into chat GPT because it is not the best for privacy and it just goes out there in the internet and people can see your information. So we have put something together and we'll be rolling this out in 2024 called chat YPTC. So that'll be more of a private product that we use using generative AI and all the information that comes from our individual clients that will be private in our own database. So more to follow on that. Oh my gosh. More to follow. So many more episodes talk about that as well. Wow. Well, there's a lot of winners. Dare we talk about the losers, runners up, miscongeniality of the nonprofit sector, what would be those that didn't quite make the mark this year? I think the loser of 2023 has to be the staffing shortage. Staffing shortage all around the nonprofit sector. I know, and I'm sure you've had many conversations with your guests about staffing shortages in all places in the nonprofit sector. Specifically in the financial management sector, it's been rough for nonprofits to keep and recruit financial staff. And one of the best things that we provide is that staffing for nonprofit organizations. But there is a crisis in the accounting staff and we've talked about this a couple of times. I feel like maybe we're a broken record on the show talking about the staffing shortage in the financial management world. I know Carol Melvin and Gerald Lynn Dressler were on talking about it. But there's a lot of things nonprofits can do as it relates to the staffing shortage. Number one is make investments in technology. That's one of the best things we can do. We just talked about automation and how we can do our jobs faster and better using automation, using AI, but that doesn't delete the need for people in the financial management departments of nonprofits. So use fractional team members. Part-timers are awesome to fill that need. Of course, that's a shameless plug for your part-time controller. But we offer great proposition, value proposition to nonprofits. And specifically an outstanding value proposition for our staff. So although financial management experts don't necessarily wanna go work for one nonprofit organization, they love the idea of working for multiple nonprofit organizations and making a difference. And having a staff behind them and a support team behind them that they can always call upon for questions and answers for the issues that they have. Yeah, it's a great win-win for the sector. Another shameless plug. I think YPTC is constantly hiring. And the reason for that is the shortage. There's so much need, there's so much out there. So if there has to be a loser, I think you picked a good one, is really that shortfall of the finance professional workforce and what we're seeing. I might sound like a broken record to Jennifer because really what Jennifer, or sorry, Geraldine, a dresser shared as well as Carol, it really hit home. And I've been talking about it with other people in my circles as well. So let's talk about the biggest lessons. You just shared winners, losers, right? What are some of these aha biggest lessons that you're taking away from this year? I mean, technology, use of technology. Don't be afraid to jump in and just use this amazing tools that we have out there with AI, automation, all that's there for the offering. Don't do the same as last year because you're going to fall behind as a nonprofit organization. It's going to, I think the turnaround or the optimistic part of the staffing shortage is the fact that we have all of these technology options, solutions that will help us solve the sum of the parts of the staffing shortage. So biggest takeaway, use technology, don't do the same as last year. That's the Sally method. Don't do that. Don't do the same as last year. That's right, Sally. I heard Sean Olds with Boodle talk about AI and he came on the show and he said, so many people are worried that AI is here to take over your job. And I want to tell you that it is, but of the parts of your job that you shouldn't be doing anyway, right? So really a lot of that integration, a lot of the just systematizing that we can do our work in an easier way if we really leverage that tech stack. I want to give you an example of that. I want to give you an example of how we can leverage that tech stack. YPTC, we like to practice what we preach for our clients and talk about not, I guess, taking away jobs and adding more to the value that you're bringing. I want to talk about our accounting department, the YPTC accounting department. I want to tell you what we do every single week and then have a question for you. It's like a Q and A contest for you, okay, you ready? All right, so we send out about 1200 client invoices per week because we invoice weekly, so about 5,000 a month. 1,000 cash receipts we receive a week, about 4,000 per month because we have approximately 1800 clients around the country and we have 650 staff members. So we do payroll for 650 staff members by weekly. We use time sheets. Every single activity that we perform day that we work for a client, our staff fills out a time sheet. So we have 6,500 time sheets per week, almost 30,000 time sheets per month. We close our books in one day, typically in one day every month and every single day our market leaders and our management team have access to real-time information, their real-time profit and loss. So here's the question, you ready? Yes, I'm nervous. I feel like it's a story problem of train A left the station going this miles per hour, train B left the station, okay. How many people do you think we have in our accounting department? Oh my gosh, this is a trick question. I mean, think of all that activity. I'm gonna go with five. Oh, that's the right answer. And you know why? Because we have everything automated. We only need five people in our accounting department for 1800 clients, 30,000 time sheets per month, 650 staff because we have everything automated. And I did this, Jared, the answer ahead of time. No, you didn't. I was nervous. I was really nervous. Again, you took me back to grade school of the trains leaving the station going different miles an hour. That is really fascinating. And that really speaks to, as you said, like that leverage of the tech stack, fascinating to know that that quantity and quality of work can be produced when we're leveraging technology. And I think it also goes to the fact that our staff can now, we don't have to hire more and more staff to handle more and more activity, but our staff now don't have to spend the time on those mundane tasks of calculating all of those time sheets and reporting it up to us. And they can spend more time on analysis and understanding the business and trends and helping us out in that way. So, and that's what it's all about with using AI and automation. That is fascinating. Jennifer, let's talk about looking ahead, which I feel like, you know, some days we're still in 2020, still in 2022, believe it or not, we are wrapping up 2023. So again, today, middle of December, what are you looking forward to and for in the next year being 2024? Yeah. I mean, this is probably a trend that has been going on for years and years in the nonprofit sector, but it continues to be really top priority and should be for nonprofits, which is increased transparency. I have a stat from the Better Business Bureau Wise Givening Alliance Report. About 70% of respondents said it was essential to trust a charity before giving, but only 20% said they highly trust charities. Wow. And that's really a tough number. And it's really important for nonprofits to get their message out there about transparency, how they're managing their finances, but also how they're running their programs. So getting information on the website, being transparent about audits and 990s on your website, often GuideStar or Candid, doesn't get that information up to their website for many months, even if it's reported to them. So it's important for the nonprofit to take that responsibility themselves and get that information out there. And then also AI and automation can really help with getting programmatic information connected from your internal systems to your website as well. We do that for clients using Power Automate to get that real-time information out on the website so donors and others can see what's happening real-time with the organization. That's really important. Transparency, I feel in our sector and the nonprofit sector is so critical, but that stat you just shared from the Better Business Bureau, that really, that hurts. Yes, it hurts. And it's all about building trust because oftentimes, if we get to it, a interesting fraud story, the fraud stories, the things that make headlines a lot of times with nonprofit organizations are when things go poorly. So you have to counteract that at your nonprofit organization by being proactive with the information that you're producing. One of the other ways to be proactive with that is getting the GuideStar seal. There's different levels and it's not that difficult to do, but go on candid.org or GuideStar and check that out because that's something we help our clients with as well is to get them a better rating from GuideStar so that they have a better transparency and a better view, their donors have a better view of them. That would be so good. Okay, tell us this fraud story, if you would. I'm watching the clock and I beg you at some time. So this is one of our, you know, 2024. What should you be doing in 2024 is continued internal controls. I come on this program often to talk about making sure that you don't give the power of your financial systems to one person. Make sure that there's checks and balances in your system. But I'm not sure if you heard about the Brett Favre case in Mississippi. The Brett Favre, as you know, was a very popular NFL quarterback for many, many years but he wasn't criminally charged but was really in the middle of this case. Happened a few years ago but the case was brought to trial this year. Over $70 million was involved. Multiple agencies and officials in Mississippi were involved. What the bottom line is, there was too much power in hands of a few and I'll just have to come back another day to unpack all the details of that story. And I think we're gonna cover it soon on one of our mission business podcasts. So look out for that in the near future. Oh my gosh, you're right. And you know, and especially having a celebrity name like that, someone that really I would say as a household name. My question to you, this is a curve ball question, but how do smaller nonprofits and organizations that now have distributed workforce, right? How are we still managing this segregation of duties, making sure that we have multiple people involved so that we can safeguard this? I think it's actually easier now that we have electronic bill pay systems and electronic approvals because it's automatic where it's going, if it's over a certain amount, has to be approved by an individual and then it goes up the chain that way. That is a great way to segregate duties because you can have one person inputting all that information into the bill pay system, other approvers, whether it's the executive director or a board member. The other number one way to ensure proper internal controls in my opinion, this is the number one way, monthly bank reconciliations. Monthly bank reconciliations that are being performed separately by the person that's really in the books of the organization. So having an outside party and your part-time controller does that for a lot of our clients where we serve as that second set of eyes or that part of that internal control process. Wow, I'm on a lot of different forums. I'm sure you are as well and you see a lot of discussion. I really hear and I feel for the small to mid-sized organizations, many of them are doing the best they can. They're starting off, they might be three, five, maybe even 10 years old but really trying to set their way in their course to provide the transparency and to deliver their mission. So I feel like there's just so much but technology as you started off really for today's conversation of the winners of 23, generative AI leaning into tech, there is so much there. Jennifer, our time has gone so fast but you dropped a lot of really amazing information, some teasers that we can look forward to. I'm super excited to learn more about what the YPTC team is up to. So, I mean, 30 years, you're celebrating 30 years, right? What's in store for the next 30? Do you all agree? Yes, all right. So we have big news that came in November. We have a new partner called Pamico Capital with YPTC and in 2024, our president and founder, Eric Fraint, will retire but will still remain on the board and he's right by us and will be with us all the way through and I will take over CEO. You mentioned my title as managing partner and CEO, it'll be CEO starting in, I guess, March of 2024. So I see continued growth with YPTC because of the continued need for nonprofits to have a great financial management systems and department. And so, yeah, lots of more exciting things to come with YPTC and reports YPTC and check YPTC and some more products perhaps down the line. Wow, Jennifer, you packed a lot into this conversation. I had no idea. Julia missed out on such a phenomenal discussion, so much to look forward to in 2024. I have to say, thank you to Eric Fraint truly. He's been a wonderful leader in this space, honored to have met him. Hopefully I'll see him again. I know he's enjoying family time, but for him to have the foresight, right? 30 years ago of where you have come today as a team, the growth, the expansion, the service to the sector, it is just chef's kiss, right? Like it is just perfection. So we are honored to have you joining us. Jennifer Aliva, CPA, managing partner and CEO soon to lose that managing partner title, straight to CEO at your part-time controller. Jennifer, thank you. You're in your whole team. I heard a shout out to the DataViz. That's one of my favorite departments as well. So always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much, Jared. And thank you for mentioning Eric. It's an amazing place where we are at because of his vision. So 100, 100%. So absolutely. Well, hey, thank you to Julia Patrick. Sorry you missed this one, my friend. It was a great one. You're gonna have to go back and listen probably a couple of times because Jennifer surprised me, didn't know half of what the information she was gonna share, but honored to be here. And again, honored to have the ongoing support from our amazing partners. Thank you to Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy at National University, nonprofit thought leader, staffing boutique, nonprofit nerd, nonprofit tech talk. And I saved your part-time controller for the last to say thank you so very much, Jennifer, you and your team joining us every single month, joining us in the future in 2024 as well. You know, we end every episode with the same mantra, but it always sounds a little different. And that mantra is to stay well so you can do well. Thank you so much, Jennifer. What a lovely conversation.