By Kelly Martin
Director of Growth, Carey & Co
I spend a big portion of my week talking with nonprofit executives (real change-makers and incredible humans); and regularly hear stories about how fundraising and finance teams are working in overdrive.
And, well, all signs point to that being true across the nonprofit community. Federal funding has been anything but predictable this year. New tax rules have changed how both everyday and major donors get a deduction. And the resulting rollercoaster is reshaping when and how people and institutions give, throwing a wrench in fundraising strategy and financial sustainability.
Your finance function is being asked to absorb all of it, and that takes a toll.
I find that it’s not that individuals aren’t equipped to handle it, but rather that the current setup was built for something simpler. And simplicity is not where we are right now.
Here are the five signs I listen for when talking with nonprofits that tells me whether they’ve outgrown their systems:
1. Your monthly close takes three weeks or more
If your books close on the 20th of the following month, your board is making decisions on numbers that are already stale. In a year when funding can shift in a single news cycle, a slow close isn’t just an accounting problem. It’s a leadership blind spot.
2. No one can tell you your cash position with confidence
Ask your team, “How much cash do we have today, and how long does it last?” If the answer takes a day to pull together, or comes with caveats, that’s a sign. When a government reimbursement runs late, unclear cash visibility is how a delay quietly becomes a payroll crisis.
3. Grant billing is running behind
Late drawdowns and reimbursement requests usually aren’t about anyone being careless. More often, program and finance teams simply aren’t talking often enough. But every week that billing slips is money your organization has earned and isn’t collecting.
4. Your auditor has become hard to reach
When auditors stop returning calls quickly, the relationship is usually already strained. That tension tends to show up in your next audit as extra requests, longer timelines, and findings that could have been avoided.
5. Staff are paying for things on personal credit cards
It seems small and even well-intentioned: someone just needed to get it done. But it signals that expense systems aren’t working, and it creates real control and audit risk as reimbursements pile up outside your normal process.
One sign is manageable. Three is a crisis waiting to happen.
Any one of these on its own is fixable, and most organizations have at least one. The real risk is when they compound: a slow close hides a cash problem, late grant billing makes it worse, and an audit surfaces all of it at once, usually at the worst possible moment.
If you recognized more than one, here’s how I’d suggest sorting the work:
- Fix now: unresolved audit findings, no clear access to cash, and grant billing that’s 60+ days behind. These carry real financial and compliance risk today.
- Stabilize next: your close process, board reporting, and whether your accounting system still fits your size. These turn into emergencies if they’re ignored.
- Document: funder relationships, system workarounds, and reconciliation steps. This matters most before any key person leaves, because that knowledge tends to walk out the door with them.
Let’s talk it through?
You (probably) don’t need a full overhaul, but it may be helpful to get clarity on where things stand. This funding resilience assessment walks through the signs one by one and gives you practical suggestions on next steps.