Habitat Greensboro streamlines its financial operations with purpose-built nonprofit accounting software

 Since 1987, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro has served over 500 families in Greensboro, North Carolina. Habitat Greensboro believes that owning a home is a major milestone on the road to a family’s financial success, and a key component of its community’s economic stability.

While successfully serving families for decades, the organization faced significant challenges as its previous accounting system was not equipped to handle the complexities of nonprofit accounting. Leveraging his extensive experience in the field, President and Chief Executive Officer David Kolosieke knew it was time for a change. After conducting thorough research, he chose Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, which is designed specifically for nonprofit fund accounting.

“Our previous for-profit accounting software lacked the capacity to track home sales, mortgage payments, and asset classes, making it difficult to make informed decisions,” said Kolosieke. “Financial Edge NXT offers the necessary features to address these challenges and manage our finances effectively.”

Enhancing Stewardship and Donor Trust

Habitat Greensboro uses Financial Edge NXT to enhance its stewardship by ensuring efficient and transparent financial management. Using the software, the organization can produce detailed and accurate financial reports at a moment’s notice. They also create statements of activity, financial positions, cash flow statements, and other standard nonprofit financial statements, which are essential for internal and external stakeholders.

Habitat Greensboro allocates all departmental costs for its construction projects to the cost of building homes. They then apply an overhead factor to these costs, enabling them to break down expenses at the project level and by phase code. This detailed subfund tracking helps with managing and reporting costs effectively.

“Financial Edge NXT allows us to easily show donors how their contributions are being used,” said Kolosieke. “We can demonstrate the impact of donations on their home-building projects and provide detailed financial data, which is crucial for maintaining donor trust and support.”

Additionally, Habitat Greensboro tracks each construction project with a separate project ID and uses transaction codes to manage costs by building phase. This granular level of tracking helps in identifying cost variations early and making necessary adjustments, ensuring projects stay within budget.

Habitat Greensboro also uses Financial Edge NXT’s capabilities to streamline its audit process. Providing auditors with view-only access to the system has significantly reduced the time required to complete audits. “With Financial Edge NXT, last year we completed our audit in 30 days with the tax return delivered back to the board,” shared Kolosieke. “And this was achieved despite having new auditors, which typically would take longer.”

Tapping into Future Capabilities

Habitat Greensboro has already seen significant improvements in its audit process and plans to continue using the system to maintain clean and organized financial records, which will facilitate future audits and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Habitat Greensboro is working with banks to implement an AP card system that will automatically interface with Financial Edge NXT. This integration will help in managing transactions more effectively and reduce manual data entry. Habitat Greensboro is exploring the potential of the expense management feature to help them manage expenses more efficiently and provide better oversight of financial activities. This feature could help them manage expenses more efficiently and provide better oversight of financial activities.

Habitat Greensboro has plans to start 40 homes and sell 36 during the upcoming fiscal year. With Financial Edge NXT, it will have a robust financial management system that supports this growth and ensures it can continue to make a positive impact in its community. “Financial Edge NXT equips us with the tools needed to manage our nonprofit finances effectively, maintain transparency with donors, and make certain that funds are used efficiently to support our mission,” said Kolosieke. “I look forward to leveraging the software’s capabilities to further our operations.”