Q: Describe Grace Church’s structure and how that relates to the church’s finances.

A: We have a parenting model in terms of how we launch new campuses.
Our original two greater Akron locations are the “parents,” and each of
those campuses has since launched campuses of their own. Each parent
campus has an accounting manager who oversees the parent campus and
her “children.” Each parent campus and some child campuses have a finance
assistant as well.

The goal is always for our campuses to be self-sufficient, but campuses will
assist one another. This once again mirrors the parent-child relationship,
where the parent continues to help support the child while encouraging
them to be self-sufficient and capable.

Q: Does Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT work well with your model?

A: Absolutely. Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT allows us to produce a variety of
financial reports. All these reports can be produced from within the system,
so we are no longer exporting and manipulating information. We can produce
high-level, organizational reports for our steering teams and administrative
board of elders, and then produce the same high-quality reports for specific
ministries. Every month, our finance team produces monthly budget reports
for our individual ministries, such as children’s ministry, student ministry, and
creative arts ministry

Q: Clearly, a finance staff of five is doing a lot to keep up with nine campuses.

A: We run a lean team. We want to accomplish as many economies of scale
as possible, one of which is the need to only have one accounting software
for nine campus locations. This was part of why Blackbaud was so intriguing
to us. We felt like it was going to accomplish many of our needs without a lot
of workarounds.

Q: Did you look around a lot when choosing a replacement for your legacy accounting system?

A: We actually first tried to upgrade to the next version of our original system.
We started the transition, but the cut-over quickly became a nightmare, so
we went back to square one and decided to continue to use the old system
for another year and take time to look at other options. I wanted to make sure
we ended up with the right product, so I probably explored and investigated
a dozen different options, then I narrowed it down to three, received quotes,
and went through demos and trials, spoke with referrals, and then
selected Blackbaud.

Q: What was your implementation experience like
with Blackbaud?

A: The way Blackbaud handled implementation was incredible. I thought
it was so well organized and a seamless transition. It was clear what the expectations were of us as the client and what Blackbaud was going to be
responsible for. I thought the weekly touch base with our implementation
coach was a key to success; we knew the goals, we knew the benchmarks,
and we were able to accomplish it within the timeframe we wanted. Our
Blackbaud consultant was a fantastic resource.

Q: What factors shaped your decision to adopt Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT?

A: The biggest factor was our ability to individually track all of our campus
locations and simultaneously track each campus’ unique projects, mission
trips, and events from within the system, as opposed to having spreadsheet
upon spreadsheet of information. We were really looking to have all of that
in in one space. Secondly, our decision was driven by our desire to undergo a
financial audit.

Q: Talk about your goals for accountability with an audit.

A: An external financial audit promotes our interest in being transparent
and accountable. We are looking for a vote of confidence: Do you have
solid internal controls and are you following those internal controls? Do you
have solid practices and procedures? Do you have proper documentation,
especially when we are talking about all these campuses?

Q: How does Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT support your audit goals?

A: Blackbaud allowed us to convert from our legacy cash-based accounting
system to an accrual system. We were also able to finally produce reliable
financial statements for Grace Church of Greater Akron as well as each of her
campus locations. The sophisticated and professional nature of Blackbaud
provided us with the confidence to proceed with the implementation of an
annual financial audit.

Q: How important is your ability to track projects?

A: This is incredibly important. We are a project-based organization. Anything
outside of the operating budget is tracked as an individual project. I love the
ability Blackbaud provides to view project detail. Sometimes we will have
dozens of mission trips, events, and giving campaigns going at one time.
When you times this by nine, for each campus, you get a lot of projects.
Some smaller projects may only have a couple charges to them, but it’s the
idea of micro-level control—of how you’re encumbering money and expecting
it to be spent—and your ability to track it in just a robust way.