u/JanFromEarth

We're a small nonprofit (under 10 people: staff, contractors, seasonal field crew) and our time tracking is a patchwork:

• Toggl Track for staff — logs hours by project, but doesn't sync to payroll (Gusto), and that project data mostly isn't used to allocate pay. Each person's pay just defaults to one accounting class, reconciled manually (if at all).
• Gusto Time Tracking for contractors and seasonal employees — contractors can't tag hours to a project, just a memo.
• Paper hitch reports → Google Sheet for our field crew — collected on paper, transcribed by a supervisor, then manually entered into payroll, bypassing Gusto entirely.

Nothing syncs, there's a lot of manual re-entry, and we don't get accurate project-level labor cost data.

Ideally: one tool that lets staff, contractors, and field crew all log time by project, integrates with Gusto for payroll, and gives real cost-by-project reporting without manual splitting every pay period.

Anyone solved this for a nonprofit with office + contractor + seasonal/field staff? Looking for recommendations.

I retired about 10 years ago from a job that required I create procedure manuals as part of the accounting systems implementation work I did. I am now volunteering to be the finance director for a decent sized nonprofit and I am overwhelmed by the options for documenting the processes I am initiating. "Back in my day" we documented with screen shots and text. I am a big fan of actually recording the steps (Zoom clips) as I walking through the process. I am a bit concerned about PII — personally identifiable information. I know I can blur that stuff out but sounds like a pain.

I wanted to get some opinions from people who are creating procedure manuals today. Thanks

Client's credit union connection to QBO has been posting checking account transactions into the credit card account (but not vice versa), corrupting both feeds and making the bank feed useless for either account.

My plan:

1. Disconnect the credit union connection in QBO immediately to stop further bad postings.
2. Pull manual statements for both the checking and credit card accounts for the affected period.
3. Have the client go through the statements and tag each transaction with category, class, and project in a spreadsheet.
4. Manually enter/upload the reviewed transactions into QBO.
5. Client is looking into switching to a different bank/card provider going forward.

Any comments or does anyone see anything I missed?

Update: Someone pointed out that I could download the CSV file from the financial institution and upload to QBO in place of the interface between QBO and the Credit Union. We tried that with the Credit card and it worked flawlessly. Next up is the checking account. Not perfect but an acceptable work around. Thanks for the help.

I don't NEED a new camera. I have a nice Logitec that clips to the top of my monitor and works quite well but I have seen a few cameras with fun options. Some will track you as you move back and forth and some have the lens in the middle of your monitor (on an extension) so it always looks like you are facing the camera. I do 2-3 hours of Zoom meetings a day. I have a Mac Mini.

I am hoping for some input from folks who have already upgraded their cameras.

I donate six onIine-hour Zoom meetings to nonprofits to help them set up their QuickBooks. I keep running into people who cannot stop talking. I do not want to be rude, and I have been, but chewing up the hour like this drives me crazy. I always try to phrase my questions so I get a yes-or-no answer. I have found myself in the habit of interrupting the client to ask "Is that a yes or a no?" Today, I told one client to let me know when she runs out of words. Is there some sort of timer I can turn on that will pop up a sign or something?

I do a lot of work with nonprofits on Zoom. I give them a certain number of hours of Zoom time as part of my in-kind donation to them. Occasionally, I get someone who simply cannot answer a question with a yes or no answer. They tend to ramble on and on, and we only have sixty minutes. I would love a non-rude way to ask them to stop talking or just answer the question. I can't be the only person running into this issue, and I wondered if anyone has come up with or can suggest a solution.

I am working with a nonprofit which has a credit card, checking, and savings though a credit union. They just migrated from QB DT to QBO.. We linked QBO to the three financial accounts but the checking is downloading some transactions, such as checks paid, to the credit card ledger in QBO.

I have confirmed that postings downloaded as credit card transactions are showing up on the checking account statement. I tried disconnecting and reestablishing the connections. The credit union says it is not on their end. I have opened up a second level support ticket with QBO support.

I am wondering if anyone else has run into this and would love some suggestions on what to do about it.

I'm over 70 and swim every other day for 30 minutes as my main exercise — it's how I offset the effects of aging: helps control my weight, keep some muscle mass, and improve flexibility. Effort varies day to day, sometimes easy laps, sometimes pushing the pace harder.

My wife and I travel a fair amount, and lap pools aren't always available where we stay. What I can usually count on instead is a basic hotel fitness room: a treadmill, some resistance machines, and occasionally a rowing machine or a rack of dumbbells.

I'd like to build a reliable "on the road" routine with that kind of equipment that keeps me on track overall — weight, muscle, flexibility — not just cardio. Looking for general principles more than a rigid plan: how to structure a treadmill session, what kind of resistance work makes sense for someone my age, and how to balance the two so it's not too hard on the joints. Would appreciate any advice from people who've dealt with a similar swap. Thanks.

I am working with a nonprofit and they are discussing establishing a membership program. I can think of a few issues and opportunities here but I am hoping the group can give some advice, based on experience, on how to establish and run a membership model

I have been keeping track of the financial transactions for a nonprofit in Quicken. We have a new treasurer. He has his own copy of Quicken. I have given him a copy of my Q file but he says I need to give him permissions. Any idea on what I have to do here?

I am over 70 and was swimming 30 minutes, five times a week. This proved to be too much and I was finding myself exhausted for the rest of the day. Not horrible but I could feel it.

. I tried doing the treadmill with great plans for some resistance training (key word "plans") but am now back in the pool. I am thinking of some combination of swimming, treadmill, and resistance training as I think I need all three. I would love some input on how I can do as much as possible without feeling exhausted for the rest of the day.

I'm reviewing the QuickBooks Online configuration for a nonprofit that already has its own 501(c)(3) determination, It does not pertain to the review but the org also maintains a relationship with a fiscal sponsor. The fiscal sponsor told the org that the relationship is supposed to improve their grant prospects, but I don't have the background to know if that's true.

Rather than a "does this sound right, yes/no", I'd like to understand the why behind any recommendations, since I'll need to explain to my counterpart at the org.

Is it common/normal for an org with independent 501(c)(3) status to still keep a fiscal sponsor? What's the actual benefit once you have your own exemption.

Appreciate any insight.

I've been putting together a generic monthly checklist for any treasurer/finance committee to actually catch problems instead of just rubber-stamping reports. Here's what I've got so far:

• Reports actually showed up. Missing or late monthly financials are themselves a red flag. If nobody notices a report didn't arrive, that's a sign nobody's really looking.
• Question any negative number. Some negatives are normal (depreciation reserves, contra-accounts), but every negative should be able to be explained by someone. Don't assume it's fine just because it's a small dollar amount.
• Flag numbers that don't move month to month. A line item that's identical for two or three periods in a row often means nobody's actually updating it, or a placeholder/estimate got left in rather than a real figure.
• Compare actual to budget every month, not just at year-end, and ask about variances over some threshold (5-10%, whatever fits your budget size).
• Check that bank/account reconciliations are dated and signed, and match the reporting period.
• Watch cash flow and days of cash on hand, not just net income. A nonprofit can look "profitable" on paper and still be a month from a cash crunch.
• Spot-check that restricted funds are actually being tracked separately, and that spending against grants doesn't exceed what's allowed.
• Pull the by-grant summary report each month, award amount, expenditures to date, and unspent balance, and check that unspent balances make sense against the grant period and any drawdown or spend-down deadlines. A balance that's barely moving as a deadline approaches is worth flagging early.
• Confirm payroll tax deposits and any other compliance filings are current. Delinquent payroll taxes are one of the more common ways small nonprofits get into serious trouble.
• Look for related-party transactions or one-off/unusual disbursements that need board approval and weren't pre-approved.
• Ask who has check-signing/wire authority and whether dual signatures are required above a certain amount, this is separate from the numbers, but it's often reviewed at the same meeting.

What would you add? Curious what other treasurers or ED's have caught this way.

My sister does bookkeeping and has two clients who keep promising to do stuff and not following through. She is six month's behind on posting for one client and cannot get the other to send statements from the financial institution(s) so she can reconcile. She still invoices them the minimum each month but really wants to actually do the work.

My suggestion was to set up an automatic email every Monday reminding the clients but there has to be a better technique. Any advice?

I am working with a nonprofit whose bookkeeper just went through the motions. The result is they have several year's worth of uncollected transactions in their A/R. I suspect many of them will be written off but I want to segregate anything over a few month's old from the items they may be able to actually collect and I would like some advice on how to do this.

I am working with Quickbooks online so I can only have one open item account which supports customer detail. Should we just do all the work to collect/write off open customer balances or is there a better way to handle it?

I have been asked to be part of a new finance committee for a medium size nonprofit which has just hired a new finance director and accounting vendor. In doing my due diligence, I discovered that no one is assigned to monitory their receivables and their accruals for employee liabilities are all over the map. The employee liabilities should be easy to correct as their payroll processor should have all the data they need. Receivables have to be analyzed but I expect a write off a major percentage as uncollectible. Regardless, they need to identify someone as responsible for collections.

My usual approach would be to write up a report on my findings along with my recommendations and forward it to the committee, the finance director, and the ED. I am trying not to ruffle too many feathers on this one and I am hoping for some advice on how to handle this.

I cannot be the only person. I want to click on the add photo icon and have it go to my iphoto app so I can select a photo. How do I do this? Thanks

I am working with a small nonprofit which is run by a five member steering committee. They have developed a rudimentary budget by activity/event but it is not comprehensive. I believe the budget gives each committee chair the authority to spend up to the budgeted amount. (Do you agree?)

I am looking for advice on how to add things to the budget when we see we missed something and to get approval for miscellaneous items.

A friend and I were comparing our experiences as volunteers for different organizations, over the years, and realized there always seems to be interpersonal tensions. He referred to it as "the drama" and I think that is apt. Sometimes it is overt with one person not willing to work with another but often it is disparaging comments when the target is not around. We both had stories of good volunteers leaving the programs rather than deal with the drama anymore.

My belief is that it comes from lack of direction. If volunteers had defined goals to be accomplished, instructions on how to achieve those goals, and regular feedback from leadership, it seemed there was less drama. If volunteers had to make it up as they went along, there seemed to be more.

I wondered if anyone agreed with my diagnosis. Has anyone seen the drama successfully addressed?

I am finding it very frustrating not to be uncovering new authors. It seems the group here has found a similar problem. I would love to see recommendations for authors that have begun writing within the last, say, five years.