The nonprofit board financial report, without the week of spreadsheets

The monthly board financial report is one of the most important documents a nonprofit produces, and one of the most time-consuming. The figures already exist in the books. Turning them into something a board can read, discuss and act on is where the days go. Here are the challenges that come up most, and how CanopyDecks handles each one.

The challenge: days of exports and spreadsheets

Most reports start the same way: export the statements, paste them into a spreadsheet, rebuild the formatting, and check that the totals still agree. Every month.

How CanopyDecks solves it

Connect QuickBooks Online, or upload a trial balance from any accounting system, and choose the month. CanopyDecks builds the full report, a one-page summary and a slide deck from the same figures. Your accounts are mapped to the report once, and remembered, so next month is a matter of choosing the month.

The challenge: board members read one page

A twenty-page packet is complete, but most board members will read the first page, and that page has to carry the story.

How CanopyDecks solves it

The one-page summary leads with the figures you choose, such as cash on hand, months of operating reserve and the surplus or deficit, each shown against last month, the budget or last year. The detail sits behind it for anyone who wants it, and the layout carries over from month to month.

The challenge: restricted money that looks available

A healthy cash balance can be mostly restricted to future programs, which matters a great deal when the question is whether payroll is covered.

How CanopyDecks solves it

Net assets are split between those with and without donor restrictions on every report, beside cash, receivables and pledges, and payables, so what is available and what is spoken for are never blended into one figure.

The challenge: budget comparisons built by hand

Lining up the budget against actuals, line by line, for the month and the year to date, is the most useful part of the report and the most tedious to assemble.

How CanopyDecks solves it

Upload your budget workbook, or build one in CanopyDecks from last year's actuals, and every line is compared automatically for the month and the year to date. When last year's figures are there, the same period last year appears alongside.

The challenge: writing the narrative

Figures need a few sentences of explanation, and the board will have questions. Writing that every month, and making sure every number in it is right, takes time.

How CanopyDecks solves it

CanopyDecks drafts the headlines, the narrative and the questions a board is likely to ask, marking any answer that needs a fact from outside the books. Every figure in the text is checked against the figures computed from your books before it is shown. Add your own notes for the month and the commentary takes them into account.

The challenge: the questions funders ask

What share of spending goes to programs? Who owes us, and for how long? These are easier to answer every month than to reconstruct once a year.

How CanopyDecks solves it

Every report includes the split between programs, management and general, and fundraising, the same functional split used on Form 990, along with receivables and payables by age, revenue by source, and expenses by category.

The challenge: trusting a tool with your books

Financial data is some of the most sensitive information an organization holds.

How CanopyDecks solves it

The QuickBooks connection only reads reports and never changes anything in your company. Connection credentials are encrypted, and every organization's data is kept apart by the database itself. The details are on the security page.