Being able to call on a large team

I wish I’d learned earlier how awesome it is to have a large team to call on.

Before starting Nonprofit CFOs, I’d led large groups, but never a large group focused on finance and accounting-type work.

So, back in those days, we would frequently have finance and accounting-type tasks that weren’t a great match for the anybody’s skills, interests, or capacity.  But the work had to get done and somebody had to do it.  Sometimes we enjoyed our work.  Sometimes it was a real slog.

Today, it’s a totally different picture.  I have a team of about a dozen.  They all come with different experiences, skills, and preferences.  That means that when a new nonprofit approaches us for a potential project, there’s a good chance that we’ll get to make a great match.  By great match, I mean that we can connect the nonprofit’s needs to someone who has the relevant skills and experience plus they project is likely to bring them a lot of personal satisfaction and joy.

The team’s superpowers include:

• Bank reconciliations (I’m not kidding.  I have someone who loves to do these.)

• Figuring out new software systems.

• Cleaning up messy bookkeeping and making it shine.

• Excel wizardry.

• Mastery of popular accounting systems like Quickbooks, MIP, Sage, and Netsuite.

• Leadership.

• Explaining finance and accounting-type concepts in a way that regular people can understand.

• Grant management and reporting

• Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements

I feel sort of like the kid who used to have just two or three crayons, which is never enough, and now I have so many different crayons that it makes me smile just to think about it!