At NEW, our Financial Services team offers a niche array of services to help mission-driven organizations grow and sustain their mission at market/below-market rates. Something that we continue to learn is how difficult it can be as a one-size-fits-all service provider. With a team of three bookkeepers ranging in talents and expertise, we flirt with accommodating our clients by meeting them where they’re at while continuing to build upon the foundation of our financial services program. By listening to our clients’ needs and honing in on trends in the sector, our team created some service offerings that our clients and potential clients can utilize as it relates to bookkeeping, compliance, and administrative foundation.
When I started at NEW just over three years ago, our community survey went out, and the largest feedback across multiple clients in FS was that we didn’t offer CPA services. And what is something BIG on the IRS-compliance level that distinguishes a nonprofit from a for-profit organization; it’s the 990! So why can’t we just do our clients’ 990s? Well, ya see, we’re a team of bookkeepers. We’re not accountants nor CPAs, so filing a 990-EZ or a Full 990 is outside of our professional scope. But we do have partners, clients, board members, colleagues who are indeed, CPAs and accountants who align with our mission (inspiring and equipping mission-driven people, orgs, and communities to realize their visions of a just and thriving society) and our vision (empowered leaders, flourishing organizations, vibrant communities) and our values (humanity, justice, collaboration, relationships, learning and growth, collective liberation).
After a couple of years of identifying this need and working on developing a vision, NEW community members Masa Nohara and Erin Claflin, both came to us aligning in mission, vision, and values. Both Masa and Erin are now our featured partner CPAs, actively doing clients’ 990s and filing their License to Solicit (LTS). Working alongside our team of financial consultants and clients to meet IRS compliance.
So how does the CPA add-on work? Our current or prospective bookkeeping clients identify the need for a CPA to file their 990. This is typically discussed in our regular check-in or during an inquiry call. Once this is identified, we determine the type of 990 they’ll file based on gross revenue (990-N, 990-EZ, or Full 990). We then build out pricing, adding on the CPA service for 990s and LTS filing at a monthly rate to their regular bookkeeping service rate. Masa or Erin will then work with the clients and the lead bookkeeper to obtain the information for filing the 990/LTS. It eliminates the administrative burden for the client in finding and paying a CPA and offers clients a below-market rate for 990 filing by a professional.
We rolled out this offering in August of 2025 and will continue to assess and evaluate its success – making tweaks as needed to accommodate mission and margin. While we were rolling out the CPA service, we identified other needs our community of FS clients unveiled. So we didn’t stop there…
- Check Depositing & Mail Retrieval: NEW has a physical building, and part of our Managed Services approach is providing affiliate memberships to community members who are in need of mailboxes, copying, printing, and conference room rental. Our team works together in-office at least once a week, so we have direct access to mailboxes for clients who use affiliate services at NEW. For clients who are strapped for time to regularly check their mailbox regularly to deposit checks, we developed an add-on service to assist! For separation of duties, we enlist a secondary bookkeeper to deposit checks on behalf of our clients. Additional mail is either scanned or pickup/delivery is arranged. For clients who don’t have a need to become an affiliate member of NEW, we offer this service for a higher monthly fee.
- Vendor Payables: Part of our regular bookkeeping service includes entering and paying bills within the accounting system but because our clients have one designated lead bookkeeper that they work with on a continual basis, we don’t make physical payments to vendors to adhere to a lower-risk segregation of duties for internal controls. Paying vendors was identified as another need for clients who were looking to practice good internal controls and eliminate the administrative duty of paying vendors. With this add-on service, a secondary bookkeeper works with the client and lead bookkeeper to ensure all bills and invoices have been received and entered on a bi-weekly basis then seek approval from the client’s designated approver to pay bills via check, ACH/EFT, or third-party billing software. This service is a flat monthly rate based on bi-weekly vendor payments.
- Payroll: A majority of our client community falls into the category of having 0-10 employees, meaning some folks are starting up or have so few employees that systems haven’t been established to maintain good controls for payroll. Payroll submission, benefit tracking, and state/federal filings are included with this add-on. We work with our clients to ensure correct entry, accounting, and filings are taking place. The lead bookkeeper collects time sheets, submits a preliminary report to the client’s designated approver, and submits on their behalf. Another perk of including this service is that NEW will file 1099s as part of this service.
For me, personally, being flexible and adaptable are so important in this work. And what’s better is that NEW supports these pivots when it comes to meeting the needs of our community. If I’m seeing patterns emerge from my client work that may indicate a bigger trend, we’re able to have conversations and openly create solutions. There is a high level of trust from all parties that goes into this, and building relationships is something that NEW prioritizes as a value. Without the foundation of a positive working relationship, trust wouldn’t thrive.
Our service exists because of the extraordinary folks and organizations NEW serves. The Financial Services team is dedicated to continuing to build and shape our offerings based upon what we’re hearing from our clients and prospective clients. We ask for open, honest feedback to help us accommodate your needs. For our current clients, thank you for trusting us. Learn more about our Financial Service offerings here!
