Fractional CFO for Nonprofits
Nonprofit finance is not corporate finance with different words. Fund accounting, restriction tracking and grant compliance are their own discipline, and getting them wrong risks funding rather than just margin.
The Financial Challenges Nonprofits & Foundations Face
Restricted funds tracked in a spreadsheet
When restriction tracking lives outside the accounting system, releases get missed, restricted money gets spent on unrestricted purposes, and the error surfaces during an audit rather than before it.
Grant compliance discovered at reporting time
Every funder has its own allowable costs, matching requirements and reporting cadence. Managing that reactively means either giving money back or leaving it unclaimed.
Functional expense allocation nobody can defend
Programme versus management versus fundraising drives your Form 990, your charity ratings and how donors judge you. Most organisations use a methodology they inherited and could not explain under questioning.
Board reporting that obscures rather than informs
A board that cannot tell operating health from restricted timing cannot govern well. Reporting has to answer 'are we sustainable' distinctly from 'did we receive a grant this month'.
How We Help
Fund accounting done inside the system
Restricted and unrestricted tracked in the ledger with releases recognised correctly, not reconstructed at year end.
Grant budgets, tracking and drawdown
Budget versus actual per grant, with allowable-cost rules and reporting deadlines built into the calendar.
Functional expense methodology you can defend
A documented, consistent basis for programme, management and fundraising allocation that stands up in an audit and on the 990.
Board-ready reporting
Operating position separated from restricted timing, with the handful of measures a board can actually govern on.
Reserve and runway planning
Months of operating reserve, modelled against the seasonality of giving and grant cycles.
Audit and Form 990 readiness
Clean support prepared through the year, so audit season is a review rather than an excavation.
What we watch in a nonprofit
Months of operating reserve
Unrestricted reserve against monthly operating need. It is the single clearest measure of resilience and the one boards ask about first.
Restricted release timing
When restricted funds become available and whether programme spend is running ahead of it. Getting this wrong is a compliance issue, not just a cash issue.
Functional expense ratios
Programme, management and fundraising as a share of total — calculated on a documented, defensible basis rather than a convenient one.
Grant pipeline against expiry
What is committed, what is at risk and what expires when, so renewals are worked well before the cliff.
Services
Fractional CFO
Senior finance leadership part-time, with controller support underneath it.
Fractional CMO
Marketing strategy and demand generation held to the same standard as the numbers.
Exit Planning
Clean books, a defensible story and control of the narrative before diligence starts.
72-Hour Cash Flow
A fast, honest read on your cash position when the answer cannot wait.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a fractional CFO do for a nonprofit?
Owns the finance function an organisation needs but often cannot justify full-time: fund accounting and restriction tracking, grant budgeting and compliance, a defensible functional expense methodology, board-ready reporting, reserve and runway planning, and audit and Form 990 readiness.
How is nonprofit accounting different?
Fund accounting is the core difference. Money carries restrictions, and revenue recognition follows the restriction rather than the cash. Add functional expense allocation, grant compliance and Form 990 reporting and it is a genuinely separate discipline — a strong for-profit accountant is not automatically equipped for it.
Do you work with churches and ministries?
Our focus is nonprofits and foundations running programmes, grants and donor reporting. Churches have their own governance and reporting conventions and there are firms who specialise in them properly. If that is a better fit for you we would rather say so and point you there.
Can you help us get audit-ready?
Yes, and the work happens through the year rather than in the weeks before fieldwork. Clean fund accounting, documented allocation methodology, organised grant support and reconciled balance sheets turn an audit into a review. We do not perform the audit — that must be independent — but we prepare you for it.
We are small. When does a fractional CFO make sense?
Usually when grant complexity outgrows the bookkeeper, when a board or funder starts asking questions the current reporting cannot answer, or when restricted funds become large enough that a mistake would be serious. Below that, a good bookkeeper and an engaged treasurer often suffice, and we will say so.
Ready to talk about your nonprofit business?
A conversation, not a pitch. If we are not the right fit we will tell you.
Start the conversation