SecureFutures (“SF”), a nonprofit based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is dedicated to empowering high school students with financial education. SF has been an Edstruments partner for two years. Vicki Lipinski, SF’s Director of Finance and Operations, recently spoke with us about how her colleagues use Edstruments to effectively manage their finances and achieve their mission.
During the interview, Lipinski shared her experience using Edstruments' software and how it has helped SF better manage their finances and operations.
The Challenge
Before implementing Edstruments, SF was using a cumbersome financial management system comprised of QuickBooks Online (“QBO”) for accounting and Excel spreadsheets for everything else. Lipinski described this system as labor intensive and lacking “visibility for our directors into the budgets they were actually in charge of.”
This made it challenging for the organization to efficiently make decisions about their programs and operations. According to Lipinski,
“Anytime anybody had any question about the budget, I had to go into QuickBooks, run reports, do calculations, and then give them the information. This regularly stopped me in my tracks of my workflow for the day."
Lipinski understood that she needed to take this part of SF’s operations to the next level.
The Solution
SF decided to partner with Edstruments in 2021 to provide a user-friendly way for its leaders to have more ownership in the budgeting process. Two of Edstruments’ software modules have been particularly impactful:
🌟 The budget management module gives SF the control, visibility, and insight they needed to manage their finances effectively. Lipinski reported, “The directors can log in, they can see all their expenses… it takes moments instead of half an hour for me. Control of their budget makes them more capable of being responsive to situations that come up.”
🌟 SF also used Edstruments’ budget planning module to build their FY24 budget this year. In summing up the experience, Lipinski said, “Talk about infinitely easier than my 20-tab Excel spreadsheet...the budgeting process was phenomenal!”
The Benefits
Since implementing Edstruments, SF has seen significant improvements in their financial management and operations. Vicki shared a few with the team:
In addition to the software's functionality, Lipinski emphasized the importance of Edstruments' customer service. "The customer service is phenomenal," she said. "The team is super supportive and very helpful, and we’re really grateful for that.”
Lipinski also noted that the software's ability to customize settings and workflows has been extremely helpful for SecureFutures. "We're a little bit of an anomaly, so having the ability to customize the software to our specific needs has been really helpful," she said.
Conclusion
Overall, Edstruments' budgeting software has been an integral part of SecureFutures' financial management strategy. Lipinski praised the software for its ease of use, functionality, and customer service. "We like to partner with people who value us and our mission, and Edstruments definitely does that," she said. Vicki concluded with a recommendation for other nonprofits,
"Once you get to a point where you have directors who are responsible for and approving expenditures, you absolutely need a way for them to have visibility into their budget.”
SecureFutures' experience with Edstruments' budgeting software demonstrates the importance of having an efficient and accessible financial management system in place. For nonprofit organizations like SecureFutures, a platform like Edstruments can provide valuable insights into their financial performance and help them achieve their mission more effectively.
If you're interested in learning more about how Edstruments can help your organization, contact us today. Use offer code "SecureFutures" in the form to get access to a special welcome discount for reading this case study!
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Watch more of our conversation with Vicki below:
Edstruments was founded to help public school systems and nonprofits make the most of their resources. We work with leaders in all roles to empower their decision-making, utilizing principles like those written about in this article. Increase your collaboration, plan multiple scenarios with ease, and deploy your dollars more strategically. Interested in learning more? Reach out to our team at hello@edstruments.com today!
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