{"id":9957,"date":"2021-06-23T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T19:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=9957"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:41:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:41:49","slug":"going-paperless-7-ways-to-automate-your-nonprofits-finance-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/going-paperless-7-ways-to-automate-your-nonprofits-finance-department\/","title":{"rendered":"Going paperless: 7 ways to automate your nonprofit\u2019s finance department"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/technology-innovation\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Technology &amp; Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGoing paperless: 7 ways to automate your nonprofit\u2019s finance department\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2021-06-23T15:22:00-04:00\">June 23, 2021<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"Going paperless: 7 ways to automate your nonprofit\u2019s finance department\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/going-paperless-7-ways-to-automate-your-nonprofits-finance-department\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/author\/natalie-anderson\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/Natalie_Headshot_2021-1-350x350.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Natalie Anderson<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Paperless automation delivers many important benefits to nonprofit finance teams, from real-time financial visibility to increased efficiency to more accurate forecasting and planning. Cloud financial management systems enable multiple users to view and collaborate on data from anywhere, at any time. Financial automation can transform nonprofits from reactive and slow-to-adapt organizations into proactive, future-ready, and resilient organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">The Definitive Guide to Driving Nonprofit Finance Efficiency with Paperless Automation<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ecdeeeb4-65a6-437e-8d64-ecc787b02a70\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1011227656-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Middle-aged woman operating a tab\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1011227656-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-biggest-internal-frustrations-nonprofits-are-facing-today\">The biggest internal frustrations nonprofits are facing today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see from the graphic below, the top five internal frustrations of nonprofit finance leaders could be eased or eliminated through the right financial automation. For maximum organizational effectiveness, nonprofit finance teams need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Real-time financial, operational, and outcomes data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reporting that is up-to-date, accurate, and communicates key insights<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automation that reduces or eliminates manual data entry and redundant tasks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Integration between systems that tears down data silos and enhances internal and external communication<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">2021 Nonprofit Technology Trends Research Report<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-b7f4cc76-08dd-4448-8c47-e8ad5dcf6be1\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-533768947-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"A line of people packing relief materials\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-533768947-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A true <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/industry\/nonprofit\/\n\">cloud financial management solution<\/a> delivers on all these requirements. Sage Intacct helps nonprofits automate financial operations, perform multi-dimensional analysis of key results, and synchronize data in real-time with other systems across a cloud application ecosystem that includes more than 200 partners. Let\u2019s look at what financial automation does for an organization across seven key areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-time-consuming-manual-tasks-transformed-by-financial-automation\">7 time-consuming manual tasks transformed by financial automation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many nonprofit finance teams spend about 75% of their time on routine, transactional accounting tasks and only 25% on truly strategic or proactive work. To move your mission forward, it\u2019s time to flip that script! Here are seven of the areas of manual finance work that you can streamline and automate with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/industry\/nonprofit\/\">financial software for nonprofits<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Manual consolidations, currency conversions, intercompany eliminations:<\/strong> A modern, cloud financial management solution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/product-capabilities\/extended-capabilities\/consolidation-accounting\/\n\">automates consolidations<\/a> from any internet-connected location on the planet, calculates currency conversions and accounts for intercompany eliminations. No more manual exports of data from your GL to Excel. For example, Sage Intacct customers routinely consolidate dozens \u2014 or even hundreds \u2014 of entities in minutes, not days. For organizations with multiple entities operating internationally, this type of financial automation can boost finance team productivity by up to 50%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manual revenue recognition:<\/strong> Do you currently calculate your organization\u2019s revenue recognition in Excel after exporting sales data from your CRM system? Financial automation with a modern cloud accounting solution can streamline and simplify these processes to remove complexity and reduce the time associated with these tasks. With Sage Intacct, you save time and avoid manual calculations in external spreadsheets that must be merged into your financial solution. Keeping data in the system, rather than in external spreadsheets, also reduces errors and eliminates version control issues. Sage Intacct is the only revenue recognition solution to streamline ASU 2018-08 and ASC 606 compliance for nonprofits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manual reconciliation of data between systems:<\/strong> When you can automatically integrate disparate systems and synchronize the real-time data they contain, you will no longer need to manually reconcile data you exported from systems and manually reentered into another. A best-in-class ecosystem makes it easy to exchange data between financial systems, like accounting, billing, expense management, and budgeting, as well as between the financial management solution and other business systems, such as CRM, business intelligence, and fundraising. In fact, 75% of Sage Intacct customers have seamlessly integrated two or more <a href=\"https:\/\/marketplace.intacct.com\/marketplace?category=a2Ci0000000DhklEAC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sage Intacct Marketplace<\/a> solutions of more than 200 software solutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manual allocations:<\/strong> Many nonprofits need to allocate shared direct costs (for example shared program costs) as well as administrative costs (management, organization-wide technology costs, etc.). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/product-capabilities\/extended-capabilities\/allocations\/\n\">Automate the calculation of allocations<\/a> that require data from multiple systems, for example, IT costs per headcount or revenue per employee. Allocate indirect costs, revenue contributions, asset, and liability amounts across projects, departments, and other critical dimensions of your organization. Quickly see the impact of your allocations to help guide decision-making.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manual vendor payment approvals:<\/strong> Instead of passing paper documents from one person to the next in a payment approval chain, set up a paperless, automated approval workflow that tracks each step and stores approvals. With Sage Intacct, everything stays in the system, so you have full visibility into approvals and payment status. Your staff will save time by not having to chase down approvals or look through email chains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manual reporting:<\/strong> More time can be saved by automating your organization\u2019s financial reporting than any other financial management task. Sage Intacct provides <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/product-capabilities\/extended-capabilities\/financial-reporting\/\n\">easy-to-create reports, dashboards<\/a>, and visualizations that help finance leaders and executives look forward and plan for programs, fundraising, staffing, and more. By automating reporting, Sage Intacct customers have reported being able to close their books as much as 90% faster each month. These time savings allow your organization to reorient staff to more strategic tasks or to reduce headcount. And when leaders review reports, they\u2019re looking at real-time data, rather than month-old information. How you view your reporting matters, too. Sage Intacct offers visual dashboards that let you display important financial information side-by-side with outcomes\u2014allowing you to demonstrate how well your organization achieves its mission.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manual audits:<\/strong> A modern cloud financial management solution, like Sage Intacct, organizes transactions so you and your auditors can easily trace transactions from the financial statements to the general ledger to the sub-ledger to the supporting documents, and back again. Using an accounting system that is purpose-built to manage and demonstrate the accounting path will set the stage for both you and your auditor to have a positive audit experience. By establishing a clear and complete audit trail from transaction to report and reconciliation, auditors will be able to easily and effectively test your organization\u2019s accounting processes. Superior data organization, transparency, and tracking will reduce the time needed to complete your audit. Less time equals lower audit costs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWith Sage Intacct, we\u2019ve gone paperless and achieved all kinds of time savings. In fact, even as the organization has grown by $2 million in revenue, we\u2019ve been able to keep to a lean finance team of two thanks to all the workflows we\u2019ve streamlined in the system. \u201cThis has kept us from hiring the additional person we would have needed if we were still on QuickBooks, for a savings of nearly $100,000 per year.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Mark Paepcke, CAO, Public Health Accreditation Board<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see, there are many reasons for nonprofit organizations to pursue paperless financial automation in the cloud. Not only will the finance team be able to work at maximum productivity, but it will also be able to utilize staff to their highest potential instead of spending their time rekeying data. Automation across key financial management areas will allow you to spend less time on routine tasks and more time on analysis of results and planning how to do more for your mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">The Definitive Guide to Driving Nonprofit Finance Efficiency with Paperless Automation<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ecdeeeb4-65a6-437e-8d64-ecc787b02a70\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1011227656-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Middle-aged woman operating a tab\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1011227656-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Working from home with tea in hand\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paperless automation delivers many important benefits to nonprofit finance teams, from real-time financial visibility to increased efficiency to more accurate forecasting and planning. Cloud financial management systems enable multiple users to view and collaborate on data from anywhere, at any time. Financial automation can transform nonprofits from reactive and slow-to-adapt organizations into proactive, future-ready, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1435,"featured_media":14349,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348,48],"tags":[334,420],"business_type":[312,41],"lilypad":[],"context":[418,429],"industry":[411,58,450],"persona":[150],"imagine_tag":[209,436,441],"coauthors":[611],"class_list":["post-9957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-guides-templates","category-technology-innovation","tag-automation","tag-cloud-financial-management","business_type-accountants","business_type-growing-business","industry-human-resources","industry-nonprofit","industry-software-saas"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Natalie Anderson","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/02\/shutterstock_683778082_c2222.jpg","imagine_tags":{"209":"Accounting","436":"Intacct Accounting","441":"Intacct Payroll And HR"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/14349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}