Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 102. 3 Financial Safety Nets Every Nonprofit Must Have - Germeen Guillaume

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102. 3 Financial Safety Nets Every Nonprofit Must Have - Germeen Guillaume · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Jonathan McCoy: Hey, I'm john.
• 0:02
  Unknown: And I'm Becky.
• 0:03
  Jonathan McCoy: And this is the we are for good podcast.
• 0:06
  Becky Endicott: nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:15
  Jonathan McCoy: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:23
  Becky Endicott: So welcome to the good community, where nonprofit professionals, philanthropist world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:34
  Jonathan McCoy: So let's get started. Hi, Becky.
• 0:37
  Becky Endicott: Hello, everybody.
• 0:39
  Jonathan McCoy: Guys, have you ever seen us so excited to talk about accounting?
• 0:42
  Becky Endicott: I feel like we have a unicorn. On the podcast, someone who is passionate about nonprofit and passionate about numbers. It's seriously God love for being that human.
• 0:53
  Jonathan McCoy: Can we just say that my one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram is an accountant. And she is with us today. Oh, yeah. So friends, your mean dm is with us. And we are just so excited for this conversation. She is a powerhouse. She is a fellow entrepreneur that serves specifically the nonprofit sector. And I love her story.
• 1:14
  Jonathan McCoy: And I just want to give a few of the highlights of it. And then we're going to kick it to her to really give the full behind the scenes version. But so she is the CEO and founder of visionary accounting group, they have a team that just has a heart for passion for numbers, but for helping us activate the back side of our nonprofits. We talk a lot about the front end of fundraising, we love the marketing, we'd love to geek out on all of the metrics on the front end. But at the end of the day, we need partners on the back side that are keeping us compliant, and that are making sure that the money is going and making the most impact. So that's what this conversation is all about today. But Jermaine led the company to recoup millions of dollars in receivables through her organization, which is just such an impactful storyline that we want to unpack. But before making the entrepreneurial leap, she was on an internal audit manager for one of the big five banks headquartered in Toronto.
• 2:01
  Jonathan McCoy: Get this y'all she is a certified anti money laundering specialist. She worked as a hybrid serving compliance and trust administration. She earned her BS in accounting from the Pennsylvania State University in her ms in forensic accounting from New England college,
• 2:20
  Becky Endicott: anti money laundering and forensic accounting and like the first two minutes, I'm
• 2:25
  Jonathan McCoy: to feel like it's like True Crime meets.
• 2:28
  Becky Endicott: Like it's gonna be hard to stay on philanthropy, when I want to know the biggest story of
• 2:32
  Jonathan McCoy: what I found.
• 2:32
  Jonathan McCoy: And I know we're gonna ask you a story. So we're gonna have to change the names to protect the innocent here. But Jimmy is an active traveler loves reading, passionate about educating others on financial literacy.
• 2:45
  Jonathan McCoy: And just a little bit of time that we have spent with her. She is just a complete light. And I can't wait to dive into this conversation. So Jermaine, welcome to the podcast. So glad you're here.
• 2:53
  Germeen Guillaume: Thank you.
• 2:53
  Germeen Guillaume: I'm so excited to be here. And yes, it's like CSI Kearney,
• 2:58
  Unknown: accounting.
• 3:00
  Jonathan McCoy: So we always say, you know, we never, you know, as a little kid sat around and said, We want to be fundraisers when we grow up, although that'd be really cute.
• 3:08
  Jonathan McCoy: But I don't know, is this the path that you knew that you would take or what kind of brought you to here, we'd love to hear how you ended up here.
• 3:15
  Germeen Guillaume: It is not. I have a background singer. My background, I just didn't want to be the person up front. But I grew up in a church singing in I was a part of a traveling choir.
• 3:26
  Germeen Guillaume: I went to high school for performing arts vocal music. And so I thought that that's what I was going to do. It wasn't until that I you know, I started looking into college programs that I realized, like, what can you really do with a music degree? Like if you don't really want to be, you know, an entertainer. And so I started thinking about, Okay, what else am I good at? And honestly, people are like, that's how you chose us. I really chose accounting because I was getting maths. And I just figured, why not, honestly. So I kind of fell into it. And went to you know, I did my four years and got my bachelor's in accounting. And then when I was on the track to become a CPA, when I thought I wanted to be partner, you needed extra, you need like 150 credits. And so I was like, Okay, that sounds like I have to go back and get my masters. And so I didn't, I wanted to choose something that was interesting.
• 4:17
  Germeen Guillaume: And that's why I chose them into accounting, which it was very, very, very interesting. We went over a lot of the day, I can't think of the name of the show.
• 4:24
  Germeen Guillaume: It's not true crime. But there's another there was another show that used to come on that used to highlight like the white collar crimes. And so that's all kind of like our curriculum surrounded was like breaking apart those things. And so actually enjoyed getting my master's going through that program. And yeah, I started at Ernst and Young, and I was there for a couple of years and I went internal and that's when I got interested in like AML and kind of be nosy about like compliance and fraud and so, yeah, and then um, I I got pregnant with my daughter, and 2018. So of course, I took, you know, my maternity leave. And at that point, I was like, Okay, I'm not ready to go back to work. I had been doing my taxes and bookkeeping on the side here and there. And at that point, I was like, okay, maybe I'll just take some time to think about what my next steps are randomly got a position of the controller and CFO left abruptly, this nonprofit big nonprofit here in New York, they were looking for someone in the interim, I was looking for something to do. And honestly, that opened the door to the whole nonprofit space.
• 5:33
  Germeen Guillaume: And here I am, years later,
• 5:38
  Becky Endicott: the winding road stories got to be one of the best Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child who
• 5:44
  Jonathan McCoy: was shot without Kelly, right. I mean, my God,
• 5:48
  Becky Endicott: it was amazing.
• 5:48
  Becky Endicott: But I mean, AML anti money laundering for all of you people out there. But this is a journey, and I am so excited that that you are in our space, because if you follow Jermaine, and of course, we'll drop this in the show notes. But she is active on Instagram. And I feel like she takes the fear out of numbers. For me, and at least I've seen you speak before. And you're just such a brilliant visionary in the space. And it makes in you disarm people like me, which is great, because it's hard for creatives, like john and i to come into the number space. But you said something before we started that I thought was really great in tone setting, which is, you know, nonprofits talk so much about raising money stewarding money, but we hardly ever talk about how to take care of it. And so that is what I'm going to say to like, set the tone for the conversation today. And I and I want you to kind of just lead our listeners through you have, we're talking all through the three must haves for nonprofit organizations today. And I wonder if you would start with the three must haves that you have outlined, that can help sort of start aligning how we can take care of our money better?
• 7:01
  Germeen Guillaume: Yeah, so um, the reason? I think one it's so important is because when we get so caught up in you know, how can we get more money? Yes, that's important. But I think because in the nonprofit space, we get so caught up in the term nonprofit, right? Not realizing that it's attack status, it doesn't mean that you want to operate and struggle and lag in the negative because then you actually really can't fulfill your mission, right? Because what will you be? What will you be operating off of, and so I think sometimes money has seemed like, gross kind of, to think about it, or harp on it in our space, just because it's like, we're serving the community. And that's great. But you need mission, I'm sorry, you need money to deliver on your mission. And so it's like, you need to think about both because they go hand in hand. And so,
• 7:47
  Jonathan McCoy: but I think you I mean, I love this because I do think that there is so many barriers mentally to a lot of people of just of how you view money, you may be personally you're projecting that on the organization or on your mission, and it's limiting you, you know, it's limiting what you're capable of, and what donors are capable of. So I love that.
• 8:06
  Germeen Guillaume: And to be honest, when you go after funding, you know what they're asking for, you know, they want to see your financials, they want to see your 990, you know, your tax return, they want to see your audit report. So if you think about it, a lot of things, all roads do still lead back to that back office accounting work, because a lot of times you can't get more money if those things are in an order. And so from working with quite a few organizations, especially some of the larger level, who are operating like government contracts and grants, I've noticed, of course, the word like these three things being super important. And it's really helps to set the foundation. And so the first one is cost allocation method having a cost allocation methodology. It is not sexy, it is. I totally get it. But honestly, in layman's terms, it really determines how do you allocate the money that you receive? We know that it's no secret that you get funds. I mean, we hate the restricted funds, right? Because we like to be able to kind of direct where the funding goes. But a lot of times we get this money. And it says right, where there are strict requirements about how we are to spend, but what I find is that we don't have a plan, when we get that money on how we spend, we think solely on you know, what is this program that we're trying to fund or how do we pay these people, but we have to couple those needs, with the requirements of that funding that we receive. And that's where that cost allocation plan comes into play. And it's super important if you're operating restricted funds, and it's even more important if you're operating federal funds, because they usually require it and a lot of times I have clients who've been asked for their actual plan before they've gotten approval to actually receive funding so it's just something to keep in your arsenal so that you can show Okay, yeah. This is something that I've thought about, I know what it is, and this is what we're doing here. Um, the second thing is policies and procedures, we can't operate off the cuff. Like you have to have a set way for how you're managing your finances. And I think that a lot of organizations like this, because they usually lack the third thing, which is the dedicated financial leadership. And so if you are a nonprofit leader, just getting started, I understand a lot of times you are the person doing all of the things. And so you usually tend to not have, you know, a documented process that you're following. But as you start to grow, and you're hiring staff, and you're moving money around, you need to have a policy, you need to have policies and procedures as to how money will be managed. When it comes in, what do you do? How do you determine where it gets spent? You know, are there internal controls in place to determine who writes the check who deposits it, like, I know, it sounds so nuanced, but these are actually things to think about. Because we know in our space, it's very common, there's, you know, misappropriation of assets. And so we want to be sure that we have internal controls in place to minimize that from happening.
• 11:04
  Germeen Guillaume: And that comes from or starts with having those those policies and procedures. And then the last thing is dedicated financial leadership. And of course, that's something that I harp on, because that is me, that is usually what people bring me in for. And it's important that you have someone who is accountable and responsible for how the money is being managed. And usually the nonprofit leader, the executive director, it's not them, you know, they they are usually facing, they are, you know, helping to bring in the money, right, they're doing a lot of, you know, networking with potential donors, you know, liaising with the board. And so it's usually one not in their wheelhouse. And honestly, they usually don't have the capacity.
• 11:51
  Germeen Guillaume: And so if you have a dedicated financial leader, that person can be responsible for making sure that you know, you're a compliant and that you are making sure that your finances are being managed appropriately.
• 12:37
  Jonathan McCoy: Okay, Jimmy, I feel like you're having this conversation with me. directly,
• 12:42
  Becky Endicott: I was gonna say the same about me. So I'm sure that this is probably translating to
• 12:46
  Jonathan McCoy: everyone.
• 12:46
  Jonathan McCoy: Because what you're saying is just so true, and so helpful, and so needed, because I think as for forward facing from fundraisers, I cannot get my words out today. But even in our own business here, I mean, my strengths are not that side of house. And you've got to know when to raise the white flag and say, I need help over here, because it is going to absolutely hold you back and lead to so much more pain and suffering down the road. And I mean, it's just so true. So I love that you just laying that out. And I think this is what I would say to our listeners, too, is if that's you do not be afraid to ask for help. Like, we need help, and it is holding you back from what is possible.
• 13:28
  Becky Endicott: Yes. I was just going to say, first of all, I want every ops person who's listening in right now to say, I want you to hear me say, we appreciate you so much. And we I mean, we have not had a ton of ops episodes. You know, as we as we're creative types, we're marketers and we're storytellers. And we'd love to go in that direction. But this is, this is a buying tires for your car, kind of a scenario here. We don't necessarily love to go buy tires for our car, but if we don't buy them, wow, we are going to be in a world of hurt. So thank you ops people.
• 14:04
  Becky Endicott: And I have to tell you, there was I mean, that was so quick, like in 15 minutes of like ping, ping, ping, Mind blown Mind blown. I just think that I went back to the place of when I used to like work on really big grants. And I would get into these grants for foundations, and they would have just the most minutia financial related question where I thought there is no way I'm going to be able to figure out what that means.
• 14:29
  Becky Endicott: And then I saw Julie head down the hallway, I go into my dear friend director's office, and I just kind of clunk down and I'm like, help me out. You know. And so I love that this framework that you have built out is really such a it's almost like the case for why you need to do this in your nonprofit. So I think this is an amazing start.
• 14:53
  Germeen Guillaume: I think people get scared because they think they have to go full blown because especially I think now you know we're operating in a digital first society. And people get so caught up in like, do I need a CFO and it's like that's like the highest level of I guess finance professional and you don't have to start there.
• 15:09
  Germeen Guillaume: Some organizations actually don't even need a CFO. So I think sometimes it's intimidating because it's like, do I need this big time person then you're thinking like salary can you afford it? And honestly, I just think take a step back.
• 15:20
  Germeen Guillaume: Because, you know, some organizations have operated with, you know, one or two bookkeepers who know not the nonprofit space and it's been fine. You just need to be aware of the complexities. Have your accounting, have a complete understanding of your funding sources and then making sure that whoever you do bring on to manage it understands that aspect. But it doesn't have to be this big time like CFO.
• 15:46
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, that's great. And I think it speaks to just that. This is a partnership, you know, where it should be a partnership. As we're, you know, working on the front side of fundraising, we need to have our friends in the back of house aligned with us as we're making the request, especially in the restricted space, I just think it's just so important to understand what you're getting into. So you can effectively say yes, or say no to some opportunities. Would you talk a little bit about that partnership? Like how do you like to work with fundraisers as a ops minded person, what is just like a really powerful collaborative experience that you've had, I just love to hear about it.
• 16:23
  Germeen Guillaume: It's funny, you said that, because I always tell my clients because usually, when they bring me in, it's like, they want to be the only person I speak to. So it's like me and them. And it's usually it's funny, you say, the ops person, because it's usually whoever the the CEO, like whoever the operations director is, that's usually the person I find that gets the ends up doing like the accounting work to support the executive director.
• 16:45
  Germeen Guillaume: And so it has to be collaborative, because if you are the fundraiser or you are these, the program director, you know, specifically what you need, as far as what it takes to run that program, as far as what your fundraising goal is, and what you plan to do with that fundraising money. And so I need to be looped in. So that I can say, Hey, this is what we can do, this is what we can't do. Or you might be telling me you're budgeting, you know, 50k, for something, I might say, Hey, this is gonna actually cost you more. So I think one of the things that I really enjoyed about the organization and I first worked for is that we had a weekly roundtable with the department heads. So it'd be the executive director, myself, and then all of the head of development that had a fundraising and the head of the different program departments.
• 17:33
  Germeen Guillaume: So those directors, and we would sit down and we would flesh out, you know, what was coming up?
• 17:40
  Germeen Guillaume: Where did they need financial support, and then me hearing what it was that they were trying to do their goals and the vision for, you know, what we're managing so that I can say, Okay, this is how finance can support you, or maybe this is how we can't, because what I would find is sometimes they'd be going after these large government contracts. And I'm like, the money is great, but the pull to actually manage the requirements that come along with that. Sometimes it's so nuanced. That I hate it. I'm like, they give you this money, but the time that it takes to actually not even manage the program, but the back end, the compliance piece, the financial reporting that they require, sometimes it's such a heavy lift. And so it's like, it's not just making sure that from a program standpoint, or fundraising standpoint that you have capacity. But do we have fiscal have the capacity, because we're talking about managing the day to day accounting operations, and then managing all that comes with the different grants and funding that you're managing. So it's best when we're all aware of what the goals are, what we're going after. So we all can come to an agreement about what this is going to look like on the back end when we talk about managing that money.
• 18:52
  Becky Endicott: Oh, my gosh, you're mean, you're so smart. I feel like I just had a moment here words. I mean, you just said something so powerful, I want to make sure no one missed it. We have to make sure that we have the fiscal capacity to even accept these gifts. Is anyone having that conversation?
• 19:11
  Becky Endicott: Because I can assure you, I have never heard that. And it is one of the most important questions, I think that we should be asking. And I'll even further support your ideology by throwing myself under the bus with a little story here, of why we need our ops people because I can remember a time where I was I was in our healthcare organization, I was trying to fundraise for one of these mannequins, you know that you can actually, like, this is very typical in healthcare where you can intubate a mannequin, or we're nurses, you can use it in training to figure out how to lay a picc line or something like that. And we were helping the nursing staff fundraise for this. And I remember going down and talking to my ops manager, about this project. And I remember her just like kind of working her eyebrow and going, Well, yeah, but if you're going to buy the mannequin, then we're going to need software to go with it. And you better look into the service agreement, and you're gonna have to end she without independent of anybody else, raise the flag of Oh, we're gonna be short, 15 grand, if we don't look at this from an ops perspective, and so we had to actually go back, build that into the front side. And it's like, Thank you ops for asking the tough questions. And I think this is such an important conversation about the need to not have this us versus them mentality in the development versus ops because if we're having like, These harmonious homogenous conversations, we're all on the same page. We're all doing what we do best in our lane. But we're still all working together and providing the best donor experience. So way to go. So here for this conversation,
• 20:48
  Germeen Guillaume: that's such a common story though, even though you're throwing yourself under the bus, I can't tell you the amount of times that I myself have felt like horrible because, you know, sometimes cash got tied up because we were so inundated with so much work and paperwork from these, you know, grants and contracts and trying to stay compliant with that, that we were falling behind in like the day to day work. And so it, it really is important to make sure that you think about what it takes to actually manage these things that you want to do, because it's not as simple as saying, Okay, we got that funding. Great. There's a now there's a whole process that goes on on the back end. Same thing with your story. Yeah, you want to buy this one thing, but what else comes with that?
• 21:25
  Germeen Guillaume: Right, we have to think about the whole picture. And that's why everyone has to be at the table. And it has to be a collaborative effort. Because you would have never thought of that. And it's not simply it's just simply because you didn't know. Yep,
• 21:37
  Becky Endicott: I mean, thank you. She just gave me a ton of grace right there. And I feel like I just got forgiven.
• 21:43
  Jonathan McCoy: But that won't hang over you. Hey, friends, this episode is presented by virtuous and they just happened to be one of our favorite companies. Let me tell you why.
• 21:52
  Jonathan McCoy: You know, we believe everyone matters. And we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see and activate donors at every level. And here's the thing, virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. It's much more than a nonprofit CRM.
• 22:04
  Jonathan McCoy: virtuous is committed to helping charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, which is simply putting the donor at the center of fundraising, growing giving through personalized donor journeys. And by helping you respond to the needs of every individual. We love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Sound like purchase may be a fit for your organization, learn more today@virtuous.org, or follow the link in our show notes.
• 22:34
  Becky Endicott: You know, there's a lot of people that are listening right now in really small shops. And I wonder if you could give them some counsel or some tips. I mean, this is an excellent framework and a place to start, if you are a one person shop, you're doing the fundraising, you're doing the marketing, you're doing the board engagement, you're doing the ops, where is a great, great place to start. If someone wants to sort of embrace this mindset of, you know, taking care of our money and shoring up our financial processes.
• 23:07
  Germeen Guillaume: So I think if you are a one person shop, the best thing that you could do is look for areas that you can automate or that you can implement technology we are it's 2021. We are tech first these days. And I think that's also a hill I'm willing to die on. Like I'm, I feel like I try to bring as much awareness as I can to the fact that nonprofits need to be a little bit more tech forward. And so if you are one person shop, you know, there's a counting software now, that will do a lot of the work for you. So I really don't suggest you kind of keep track of your finances in Google sheets or Excel, you can get you know, especially if you're a small shop, you can get something as simple as QuickBooks Online. And people ask me like, oh, what's the best software? I would say it depends because it does depend on your size and the complexity. But if you are a small shop, QuickBooks Online will work great for you.
• 23:58
  Germeen Guillaume: And there are integrates with other tools. So if you have like a donor management system, you can integrate it together. But I think if you're a small shop, it's best to look for ways to give yourself more space and capacity. And that's where technology helps. You know, there's some roles that have gotten completely eliminated, due to the fact that things have been automated. So I think a lot of times you can stretch out your ability to like, bring someone on or hire somebody if you use technology and the resources that you have at your disposal to make up for that gap.
• 24:28
  Becky Endicott: JOHN, are you shocked that the accountant just told us how we could save money and do more in our shop? You know, I love? Yes.
• 24:36
  Jonathan McCoy: In any urging to embrace technology and brace automations We are here for that conversation all the time. I mean, this year, obviously is afforded a lot of movement to everything going virtual. And you have you know, been leading the charge doing this entrepreneurially too. What are some suggestions of people that need to move their financial operations online? What are some things that you've seen this last year that have been really critical?
• 25:00
  Germeen Guillaume: So I will say it was scary for a lot of organizations who had never thought about what it would look like to be to go remote or virtual. And so I got panicked, like, you know, potential clients reaching out for my services about like, how can we move to the cloud or how can we access our accounting data from home like, and I think that's why when you you definitely want to have a business continuity plan. These are things that you want to just have in your, in your arsenal. So in the event you at the drop of a dime, have to work remotely or from home, your office Operations don't stop. And that was a prime. For me, that was the prime opportunity to drill in more why we need to be more tech forward.
• 25:43
  Germeen Guillaume: And so I think if you're if you're still operating where I have to log in to LogMeIn to then the server to access the accounting, like you got to do, we have to do better. Um, and so I think the first thing you want to think about is what are the tools that you're using for from a day to day perspective, things that you absolutely need access to? And is there a cloud hosted version of that? Usually there is and what would it take for you to actually convert over?
• 26:11
  Germeen Guillaume: What I noticed is that a lot of organizations who have gone ahead and either made the conversion, or were already operating in the cloud, some of them have no plans to open up their office, or they have plans to downsize because they realize, hey, we don't need to be in the office to do said work. And I think that it was enlightening and an eye opening to them. And so I think it's important, you know, there is a lot of opportunity here to cut costs. So you look into, you know, what are the tools and the resources that you are using?
• 26:38
  Germeen Guillaume: And is there a way to move over to the cloud. So that one, you you kind of eliminate that fear of having to host everything on a server in house, but then also you open up your talent pool, you open up the ability to, to streamline your operations. And then also I would say is that from a financial perspective, there is security, right?
• 27:03
  Germeen Guillaume: There's things that you can implement to make sure your data is protected. But then you say no money, honestly, like, and we know, in the nonprofit space, you got to be creative, right?
• 27:12
  Germeen Guillaume: Because a lot of times you have to do a lot with a little. And so I'm always thinks it's weird when people are apprehensive of doing those things that can afford you more time and more money.
• 27:23
  Jonathan McCoy: I think that's brilliant. I mean, business continuity plan, I just feel like that is a buzzword that we all need to figure out how to adopt. And it's like, training ground was 2020. I think even from experience, you know, we just had a catastrophic snowstorm. That is like once in a generation, it didn't feel like we even skipped a beat honestly, when it happened, because we're just all so used to working remotely. So I think if you haven't figured that out, like what a great calling and all the great tools, we will link up everything that we've just talked about in the show notes too. But thank you for that.
• 27:52
  Becky Endicott: This whole conversation just reminds me of what we say all the time about working smarter, not harder.
• 27:58
  Becky Endicott: And, and I think that if we can just leverage some of these things, and if you have like, someone taking your hand, like I just wish that I would have had it germane in my life like early on and nonprofit, I think I would have been a much savvier human being in this area of our business. But it's like there, there are ways that we can, you know, not only save money, good, everybody's happy at the top when we save money, but save time for ourselves. I mean, we have got so many things that are piled on us these days, that this is such a win win opportunity for anyone regardless of size. Regardless of what area of nonprofit you're in, this is just so fantastic.
• 28:40
  Becky Endicott: And I want to ask you a question. Because the way that I was introduced to Jermaine was that I saw that she was presenting a seminar where she had saved like an organization$2.8 million in just like work in doing automated workflow, or something. And I'm like, what in the heck, how is that even possible? Tell me that story.
• 29:05
  Germeen Guillaume: So honestly, Becky, that is an interesting story. So this was in and to be honest, I was actually scared.
• 29:13
  Germeen Guillaume: This was the first nonprofit that I had ever worked at. And they were facing, I'm not meeting payroll. And so I was like, okay, we need to figure out like, what's happening with these contracts? Because in my mind, I'm like, how are you operating all of these, because they were operating anywhere from like 48 to 50. contracts.
• 29:31
  Germeen Guillaume: And I'm like, the all most of them are multi year, and they're pretty big. So I'm like, why don't we have any money? Like what is happening, and when it came down to was that a lot of these are contract reimbursement. So I don't know if you're familiar with that.
• 29:48
  Germeen Guillaume: But it's like where you have to spend first and then you have to be reimbursed. They actually had a pretty decent fiscal team. I want to say when I came in as interim comptroller, it was about seven of us. And so I was so baffled as to how the accounting department was in such disarray, chaos and it really came down to people not understanding their role and responsibility. And there being no formal like policies and procedures. So everyone was kind of like operating in silo. And so when I came in, it was like, Okay, we got to tear down and start all over. And from doing that and getting super clear on everyone's role, and you know, identify Okay, you are going to be contracts management, you are going to be AR you are going to focus on AP, we realized that there were a number of have contracts that they had it invoiced for, where they were owed funds and so on. Like, here, we are trying to figure out how we're going to make the next payroll. And there's all this money out there that's actually owed. Because remember, this is contract reimbursements.
• 30:47
  Germeen Guillaume: So you've spent this money already, until it was about, I want to say it ended up being about like $2.8 million, but it was across, you know, multiple contracts. And so one of the things that we had to do, because honestly, I really was worried that we weren't going to make the next payroll was get on the phone with these agencies.
• 31:07
  Germeen Guillaume: Because the thing is, if you know anything about working with the government, they're slow.
• 31:09
  Germeen Guillaume: And so even though now we knew how much was out there, and we were preparing those invoices and getting them out, a lot of times, you then have to wait to receive the money. And so we were and this is why relationships is important, right? So we weren't getting in contact with the agencies like who was our point person and kind of just explaining the situation. And actually, we were able to recoup a lot of a good portion of the funding within a two week time span. And we did end up having to borrow the money for payroll, though, because it didn't come quick enough. But we were able to put it back because we did end up recouping a good a good amount in about a two week time span.
• 31:48
  Germeen Guillaume: And over the next 60 days, we were able to recoup the rest.
• 31:52
  Germeen Guillaume: But it was just a lesson and how when there are no formal policies and procedures, and people don't understand their role and how it contributes to the whole, how you can easily be missing things. And so that's one of the things that I actually find, I enjoy doing now when I go into these organizations that will bring me in or hire us. It's like, Okay, how can we tear down to start over and rebuild? Because normally they either have no accounting process or how they were managing their accounting.
• 32:20
  Germeen Guillaume: It's just, it's just terrible.
• 32:25
  Becky Endicott: Okay, the thing that I loved the most about that story, which that was an amazing story is the fact that you, of course, I would say this, john, you were so vulnerable at the beginning of it to say I was scared, people were all scared to figure this out. And I honestly think that that is probably the metaphor for this conversation. If you're a frontline fundraiser, if you're even in like annual giving or prospect research would, we're all scared to ask someone who knows finance to look at our stuff. We're all scared, but oh, my gosh, if we could just be brave enough to ask for help shore it up. I really think that it could have this sort of what I would call almost like a cataclysmic sort of scenario where you completely swung this nonprofit the other way. So that is an amazing story.
• 33:15
  Germeen Guillaume: Thank you.
• 33:15
  Germeen Guillaume: Thank you. Yeah, yeah, it really must give me and you know, coming from the corporate space, it's completely different. So you know what, it was challenging. But I always say like, the nonprofit work is hard work. And it's hard work. And it takes it takes a lot you have to care about what you're doing.
• 33:31
  Germeen Guillaume: Because a lot of times it's it's thankless in some ways. And you It really is a lot of grunt work involved. And so you really want to be working, I think for organizations that whose mission you believe in and who are really making a positive change, because then you feel fulfilled while also doing these backend work. This back end work. That is an exciting, I love it.
• 33:53
  Jonathan McCoy: Well, you know, we we believe in the power of philanthropy here. We love talking about it day in and day out. I'm curious, what's the story of philanthropy that's really just kind of pulled you in, it could be a organization that you've worked with, or it could be even something personal, but what you know gravitates you to the space that you just feel kind of filled up from.
• 34:13
  Germeen Guillaume: Um, it's odd, because I was kind of, I kind of hopped into this space, right.
• 34:17
  Germeen Guillaume: And then once I got here, it was like, I'm here to stay when I realized how how the communities that I believe in, that I'm growing up in right, have been impacted by the work that's being done by like a lot of these community organizations, but specifically, the choir that I sang in in high school was pretty much powered by a nonprofit in Harlem. And one of the things that they did, it actually wasn't that long ago, well, meanwhile, like seven years ago, was they kind of put a spin on, like baby showers.
• 34:54
  Germeen Guillaume: And so they reached out to the community, there were a group of single parents, single moms, who were pregnant. And of course, you know, you didn't really have family or support. And one of the things that they did was they put on like a community, baby shower, where all of these people in the community came together to donate, you know, diapers, wipes and all these different things that that you need. And then those single parents were gifted with all of those things so that they had the necessities to take care of their children within those first few, you know, first few months of having them and I think seeing That happened after now having had been in the space, it kind of just confirmed for me that this is where I'm supposed to be. I for four years, like, you know, when I graduated college, it was like, who's gonna pay me the most money? Like, I'll be honest, it was like a race to six figures, I was like, on this path to climbing the corporate ladder.
• 35:53
  Germeen Guillaume: And it wasn't until I had children that I was like, maybe this isn't really what I want to do. And I started to think about the fact that I was operating like a robot, I could do my work in my sleep, and I had no feeling tied to it. And, you know, I felt burnt out. And so coming in the nonprofit space, like I said, it's hard, but I feel so much more fulfilled, and like, there's a purpose behind my work. And that is why I chose to stay. And so when I have people asking me, like, you know, about going back to corporate, I'm just like, it has to be a cold. I don't know what the day where I'm like, Okay. I just went, I am like, I love it here. Please, never
• 36:38
  Becky Endicott: leave, please never leave we need. I mean, even just to hear your enlightened story of like, understanding, I thought it was a great quote, nonprofit work is hard work. But it's also hard work and having the understanding that it's bigger, you know, than what we're going to pull down for our shareholders. It means more at the end, finding 2.8 million is like not even a blink of the eye for Ernst and Young. You know, but for a tiny nonprofit in Brooklyn, you know, New York and your community. It's It's life changing, it's diapers, it's what this is just an amazing story, please don't ever leave us We need you to remain we need you to find out.
• 37:18
  Unknown: What does this mean?
• 37:18
  Unknown: And it's not because you're getting audited, or
• 37:23
  Becky Endicott: Okay, Jermaine, we ask all of our guests, what is one good thing, this could be a piece of advice, a life hack a mantra, what's something that you would offer up to our community today is your one good thing.
• 37:37
  Germeen Guillaume: I think my one good thing would be lend your support. So I think a lot of times we think that we have to be like do these grandiose gestures in order to make a difference. But sometimes it's really as simple as lending your time, right? volunteering, you know, if you have an extra couple of dollars, like that organization whose mission you truly believe in being able to donate to them, but like lindores support the pandemic really showed that there's a demand now, or an increase in demand rather, for a lot of the services that, you know, nonprofits and community organizations offer in the the funds come from people like us, right donors, who are, you know, who really believe in the mission. And so I think like, if we want to continue to see good change, if we want to continue to see these organizations thrive and make a difference, let's help them not struggle, let's help them make a difference. And so whatever way is easiest for you, whether it's monetarily or your time, like lindores support,
• 38:43
  Jonathan McCoy: that is such a perfect one good thing for you.
• 38:46
  Becky Endicott: It was in its lending, you know, from the accountant. So that was like a softball hanging out there. For me,
• 38:51
  Jonathan McCoy: I had to obviously y'all close with your Instagram, because we want to figure out how people can connect with you and visionary accounting group. But I will say, you know, in the same vein of that, I feel like you just show up and serve to Instagram to 1000s of people that you probably will never hear from, that you're not going to earn a buck off of. But you just show up with your expertise. And I feel like everybody should be doing that, like what is your what is on your heart that you think you could share with the world, like do that, like, share? And I think that that, that ties in so nicely with what you're talking about with your one good thing. So
• 39:20
  Becky Endicott: I have to just say, just to piggyback on that, we have figured out that we Jermaine has figured out a way to storytel through accounting on her Instagram. I mean, there is a way to story tell people to get someone's attention to walk them through what you're doing.
• 39:36
  Becky Endicott: And I think your Instagram is a beautiful example of you don't have to have an actual you know, beneficiary story or a donor story. You can tell your story and get people what they need in a really creative way. Please go follow Jermaine on Instagram is great.
• 39:53
  Jonathan McCoy: So what are the other ways we can connect people with you and with visionary accounting group, how they how can we find you?
• 39:58
  Germeen Guillaume: So yes, I'm on Instagram and Facebook at the visionary accountant. And if you'd like to, you can follow me there, send me a DM I respond to DMS. And my website is visionary, ag calm. If you're interested in services, you can you know, just go to the website and book a call. Or you find me and I'm pretty active on social so
• 40:21
  Becky Endicott: and you'll not only get the expertise but you will get the kindest heart the greatest human, someone who 100% gets what we are doing and is here for it.
• 40:31
  Jonathan McCoy: So this has been an awesome conversation. Thank you so much. much for being here.
• 40:35
  Germeen Guillaume: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed talking to you guys.
• 40:40
  Unknown: Thanks for listening to today's conversation with Jermaine about the three financial safety nets every nonprofit should have. You probably hear it in our voices, but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free and you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. It's our own social network and you can sign up today at we're for good comm backslash Hello. One more thing if you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review means the world to us and Your support helps more people find our community. Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie Confer and our theme song is sunray by Rumi boys. Boom.