The Catholic Diocese of Helena covers 51,922 square miles of western and north central Montana, supporting a vast number of parishes, missions, schools, and ministries, and with Blackbaud’s cloud-based solutions for fund accounting, those in charge of finances have faith in their numbers.

The Diocese of Helena began using Blackbaud Financial Edge® in 2011 and adopted Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT in January of 2020, just in time to benefit from the transition to cloud and remote capabilities during the early months of COVID-19 response.

“Having the remote option with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT has made working during COVID-19 so much easier, and makes a big difference in productivity and efficiency,” said Jim Carney, financial services director.

The increase in functionality Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT offered was a driver for the Diocese of Helena to make the upgrade, but there was also an element of looking into the future. “We looked at our overall infrastructure,” said Carney, “and the reality of having aging physical servers in an aging building (built in 1884) didn’t seem like an ideal solution, so we took the leap and moved to the cloud.”

User-Friendly Fund Accounting

“There are always new learning curves when you make a software transition, but I have found FENXT to be very user friendly, especially compared to other software solutions I’ve utilized in the past,” Carney said.

A robust general ledger and accurate financial reporting are key to Carney’s role as the financial services director. There is a lot that goes into tracking and maintaining the financials of a diocese, but Carney takes comfort knowing he and his staff can trust their reports as they present them to the bishop and finance council. “It’s crucial to have faith in your data and numbers, and knowing that your processes are working properly,” Carney said.

Tools for Transparency

The Finance Department works side-by-side with the Development team for a very smooth process, especially with the Annual Appeal. The diocesan budget is built on three primary pillars, the annual appeal, the parish assessments, and the investment earnings from the foundation. Finance and development work together to develop the goals and formulas to decide the total amounts to be raised, as well as make recommendations on how the funds can be used for the most good.

With the ability to easily design reports, Financial Edge NXT has also helped with the overall transparency for the diocese. “We built our chart of accounts and use projects in a way that allow us to get to that granular level that we need for reporting,” Carney explained. It’s important for a diocese to have thorough reporting to present to the Finance Council, and Financial Edge NXT makes that process effortless. “I always include a memo with the monthly financial reports, and it makes it very easy to call out any variances or items that appear irregular. From there, it’s as simple as pulling a query to get those extra details,” said Carney.

Not only does the Diocese of Helena need to have dependable reporting to provide transparency internally, but it is also crucial for sharing information with donors. “The Development team relies on our accuracy to show donors that we are good stewards of their gifts,” Carney said. “Their support is critical to our mission, and they deserve to know where their money is going.”