Community Development Agency Renovates Accounting Process with FundWare

The User

Family Consultation Service (FCS) was established in 1976 as a nonprofit counseling agency for low-income clients. Originally serving children and families referred by Atlanta-area juvenile courts, it eventually broadened its mission to pursue lasting solutions to some of the underlying causes of poverty.

Today, FCS Urban Ministries (as it is now known) is a community development organization. It focuses its work almost exclusively in three adjacent urban Atlanta neighborhoods: Summerhill, Grant Park and East Lake. With a staff of 60, most of whom live in these neighborhoods, FCS constructs housing, operates businesses and a school for at-risk children, and provides other human services. It works closely with churches to mobilize people and resources that bring hope and creative new options to the city. Attracting middle-income people of faith to relocate in urban communities has been one of the ministry's most significant efforts. It has developed four mixed-income subdivisions and is currently implementing this reneighboring strategy throughout the entire East Lake community. Its goal is to create in the midst of urban blight wholesome places for families to flourish.

The Problem

Like most community development agencies, FCS Urban Ministries has more work to do than resources to do it. Therefore, the agency seeks to maximize its technology investments by selecting and deploying technology that can be used effectively across many different programs. "We needed a package that would meet the unique accounting needs of several different groups," said Mary Maynard, an accountant at FCS Urban Ministries. "These include two retail stores, a rental-unit property, youth organizations, community development activities, and a dance troop. Each of these entities receives and distributes funds, but the manner in which these funds are managed differs significantly. We needed a package that was flexible enough to conform to the accounting structure established by each user group, while providing reporting and oversight capability to senior management."

In addition, Maynard said the Ministries' old accounting package could only run reports by department or account, whichever was listed first in the account structure. "This became unacceptable as we became more sophisticated in our accounting processes and developed the need to run reports both ways."

The Solution

In their search for a new accounting package, Maynard and her colleagues asked the Ministries' CPA firm for assistance. "They had us complete a questionnaire describing our dream package," said Maynard. "When the results were tallied and a search of the marketplace completed, the only package that our CPA firm could recommend that fit our needs was FundWare."

Award-winning FundWare is accounting software that delivers the unique functionality required by nonprofit organizations and government agencies, all for the lowest total cost of ownership as compared with competing products.

FundWare is comprised of a suite of easy-to-use software modules that let clients better manage and report on their business, stay in compliance with government regulations, and improve productivity so they can focus on their mission rather than their accounting system. Available modules include General Ledger, Project Grant with Budget Control, Accounts Payable/Purchasing, Payroll, Budget Preparation, Accounts Receivable, Cash Receipts, Allocation Management, Fixed Assets, Bank Reconciliation, Reporting, and Import/Export tools.

FundWare has been installed at over 4,000 client locations worldwide. These clients are supported by a direct sales force and a national network of value-added resellers. The company also offers a professional services group that will install and customize FundWare to a client's exact specifications for a fee.

Benefits & Results

Maynard said FCS Urban Ministries chose FundWare specifically because of its flexibility, especially when using the attributes and masking functionality. "FundWare's (nowFundWare) flexibility allows me to meet the needs of eight different organizations with one common chart of accounts. In addition, being able to produce reports that transcend years for certain grants or insurance audits is a huge benefit," she said.

Maynard added that FundWare has increased her productivity and job satisfaction in very specific ways. "FundWare has definitely made my job easier, primarily in the preparation the 990s and reports for our annual audit," she said. "By using the software's attributes and masking functionality, I can now produce the reports from the system for my 990s instead of by hand. I can then reproduce these and other reports for the auditors. I also like FundWare's data inquiry functions. They let me quickly lookup the details of an entry when a program director asks about what went into a number on a report." Maynard added that she is greatly aided by the software's standard reporting function, which allows her to very quickly produce many of the reports that directors request when applying for grants.

Client Satisfaction

While a realist when it comes to finding the "perfect" piece of technology, Maynard said she is quite satisfied with FundWare. "I do not believe that one can find the perfect accounting software, but FundWare comes very close. I consider FundWare to be the Cadillac of accounting software for a not-for-profit organization, such as ours. Furthermore, I think Fundware is a knowledgeable, personable and friendly company, which makes doing business with them a real pleasure."

*FundWare was ranked #1 by the Nonprofit Financial Center in its independent review of 19 accounting software packages. In addition, FundWare recently received the top rating (5-Star) from CPA Software News in its annual review of NPO software packages.